RESEARCH INTERESTS

20th-century intellectual history, the history of science, and environmental humanities

BIOGRAPHY

Isabel's teaching and research focus on 20th-century intellectual history, the history of science, and environmental humanities. Her first book project, Logics of Life in 20th-Century Liberalism: Biology, Politics, and Critique,  tracks the role of biology in the emergence of poststructuralism and liberal historicism in France after the Second World War. She is also at work on a second book, tentatively entitled At the Edges of Chaos: Complexity Theory between Science and Governance. Bringing together histories of molecular biology, cybernetics, and big data, the project explores the rise of complexity science in Europe and the United States after 1970. 

Isabel’s publications have appeared in journals including History of the Human Sciences and Revue d’histoire des sciences. Prior to joining the Department of History, Isabel held postdoctoral positions at​the Fishbein Center for the History of Science and Medicine, the Institute on the Formation of Knowledge (both at UChicago) and the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy.  She received her PhD in History from Columbia University in 2015.

COURSES TAUGHT

• Global Environmental Humanities
• Science, Governance, and the Crisis of Liberalism
• Biology, Technology, and Politics in 20th-Century Europe
• Gaming History (with Katherine Buse and Brad Bolman)