About
David Spanagel, associate professor, humanities and arts, joined WPI in 2005. He received his PhD from Harvard University. With expertise in the history of the earth sciences and cartography, he teaches broadly across the history of science and technology to support student inquiry into how knowledge and practices have changed during all time periods, in all cultural contexts and geographic regions, among all fields and subfields of instrumental and mathematical as well as conceptual, theoretical, and qualitative studies of nature.
Featured Work
DeWitt Clinton and Amos Eaton: Geology and Power in Early New York
David I. Spanagel explores the origins of American geology and the culture that helped give it rise, focusing on Amos Eaton, the educator and amateur scientist who founded the Rensselaer School, and on DeWitt Clinton, the masterful politician who led the movement for the Erie Canal.
