SAM H FRANZ


Doctoral Candidate
History & Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania

My research focuses on the material conditions that enable and constrain the production and transmission of knowledge, intersecting with histories of science and technology, political economy, and histories of education.

My dissertation project explores the relationship between computing infrastructure and transformations in US universities in the 20th century, focused on the American Midwest. I investigate the way that questions about the future of work, the role of higher education in economic development, and the future of computing were intertwined in 20th century US history, from early statistics laboratories and calculating centers to modern computer science. My dissertation is advised by Harun Küçük, and my committee includes Stephanie Dick and Susan Lindee.

My previous work explored the "complexity sciences" and their connection to the life sciences and computing sciences in the early history of US digital computing and artificial intelligence.

Broadly, my research interests include: History of Science & Technology; History of Computing; Political Economy; Intellectual History; Materialist History of Science; Historical Epistemology; History of Higher Education; (Critical) University Studies

samfranz@sas.upenn.edu
WRITING


“Man on Fire” in “Mental Health at Michigan,” Michigan in the World Digital Exhibit. 2020.


SPEAKING


“An Interdisciplinary Computing Science: Initiatives at the University of Michigan, 1960-1990” at History of Science Society (HSS) Annual Meeting 2023, Portland, OR, 9-12 November 2023.

“Computing Labor, Computing Science: The Computer and Communication Sciences at the University of Michigan, 1960-1990” at Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) Annual Meeting 2023, Los Angeles, CA, 26-29 October 2023.

“Interdisciplinarity Beyond Knowledge: Training and Research at the University of Michigan” at Special Interest Group for Computing, Information, and Society (SIGCIS) Annual Meeting 2023 (virtual), 21-23 September 2023.

“Archaeology and the History of Disciplines in the History of Science” at French Historical Epistemology Workshop, Organized by University of Pennsylvania Philosophy and History and Sociology of Science Departments (virtual), 29 March 2023.

“Adaptation as Learning” at Graduate Student Works-in-Progress Group, University of Pennsylvania, 11 April 2022.

“Adaptation as Learning: John H. Holland and Evolutionary Computing at the University of Michigan” at The 56th Joint Atlantic Seminar in the History of Biology, Jointly held by MIT HASTS and Harvard History of Science (virtual), 8-9 April 2022.

“Adaptation as Learning: John H. Holland and Evolutionary Computing” at Histories of Artifical Intelligence, Winter Symposium, Homerton College, University of Cambridge, UK, 14-15 December 2021.

“Thinking about Automating Thinking: A History of Early Computing” at Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, New Orleans, USA, 4-7 September 2019.

“A History of Computing(s),” at Michigan Museum of Natural History Scientist Spotlight, Ann Arbor, MI, 18 August 2019.

“A (Pragmatic) Computer Science: Arthur W. Burks and the Logic of Computers Group,” at Michigan Museum of Natural History Scientist Spotlight, Ann Arbor, MI, 4 August 2019.

ORGANIZING & MISC.


Co-Organizer, “Unity and Interdisciplinarity in the Postwar Sciences” w/ Libby O'Neil, History of Science Society (HSS) Annual Meeting 2023, Portland, OR, 9-12 November 2023.

Co-Organizer, French Historical Epistemology Online Workshop, Organized by University of Pennsylvania Philosophy and History and Sociology of Science Departments (virtual), 29 March 2023.

Organizer, Graduate Student Works-in-Progress Group, University of Pennsylvania, 2021-2023.