Center for Race and Ethnicity
at Rutgers University Karen O'Neill
Human Ecology
732-932-9153, ext 316
Karen O’Neill is an assistant professor in the Human Ecology Department at Rutgers University specializing in contention, inequality, and state power in the U.S. In her book, Rivers by Design (Duke University Press), she shows that while infrastructure projects may appear to be imposed by the central state, campaigns for projects were often initiated by elites in the outlying regions. In the two regions that first demanded flood control aid--the Mississippi and Sacramento valleys--white elites sought environmental controls to ensure an agricultural workforce of new immigrants or former slaves. A portion of that research was awarded the Marvin E. Olsen Student Award from the ASA's Section on Environment and Technology. Her other work on risk preparedness and response, perceptions of genetically modified food, the social experience of space and place, international conservation, resource planning, and experts and government legitimacy has appeared in a variety of journals.
