Steven Usselman

A historian of technology, innovation, and public policy, Steve Usselman studies American economic development and the dynamics of global capitalism since 1815. He teaches courses on Technology in America; Law, Technology, and Politics; Business Organizations and Political Economy; and Engineering in History.

Usselman's publications include Regulating Railroad Innovation: Business, Technology, and Politics in America, 1840-1920; The Challenge of Remaining Innovative: Lessons from Twentieth Century American Business (with Sally Clarke and Naomi Lamoreaux), and The Rise of Big Business, 1860-1920 (forthcoming with Glenn Porter). His numerous articles and book chapters include the award-winning "IBM and Its Imitators," one of several devoted to the history of information technology.

A past president of the Society for the History of Technology, Usselman recently served as senior editor of The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. He is currently at work on two projects: one examines new business practices associated with changes in global transport and logistics since 1945; the other traces the role of the vertical centrifugal pump and its spin-offs on California industrial development.