Contact: Robbie Ward
Bruce Seely, a technology historian at Michigan Technological University, will be speaking twice this week at Mississippi State.
Tomorrow [Feb. 7], his topic will be "Fifty Years of Interstate Highways: The Origins and Consequences of the Nation's Largest Public Works Program." The program begins at 7 p.m. in the university's Mitchell Memorial Library auditorium.
Thursday [the 8th], he focuses on engineering-related technologies during a special 3 p.m. program in 120 McCain Hall. "The Societal Implications of the Next Best Thing: ELSI and Nanotechnology" will be the topic.
Seely, chair of the social sciences department at the Houghton, Mich., institution, has won numerous national honors for his scholarly works on technology, transportation and history. They include the Abel Wolman Awards of the Public Works Historical Society and American Public Works Association, as well as the Norton Prize of the Society for Industrial Archaeology and Abbott Payson Usher Prize of the Society for the History of Technology.
Alan Marcus, MSU history department head, said Seely's discussion Wednesday will help put into context how parts of the country have developed alongside the interstate highway system. "It shaped economic development; with each piece of roadway, motels, gas stations, and restaurants emerged," he said. "In some ways, it speeded the 'McDonaldization' of America."
Seely's Thursday presentation takes place at a colloquium sponsored by the Bagley College of Engineering and the Department of History.
For more information on Seely's campus visit, contact Marcus at 662-325-7075 or aimarcus@history.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.