Howard Segal is the Bird and Bird Professor of History and has a national and international reputation in the field of the history of science and technology.  His research focuses on visions of future societies based on scientific and technological developments and on the connections with the existing societies that have generated them. Professor Segal has published several books, including Technology in America: A Brief History, named by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Book for that year, along with Future Imperfect: The Mixed Blessings of Technology in America and Recasting the Machine Age: Henry Ford’s Village Industries.  Coming out this year (2012) is Utopias: A Brief History from Ancient Writings to Cyberspace Communities.  The manuscript received an overwhelming positive response from external reviewers, one of whom thought the book “a ‘near perfect’ account of utopias and utopian thinking of the past, present, and future”.  In addition to his successful books, Howard has published more than thirty articles, chapters, and encyclopedia entries on a wide variety of topics and in the top journals in his field.  Howard serves on the editorial, advisory, or book review boards for numerous scholarly journals in his field; has consulted on films produced by PBS, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the History Channel; and served as a professional consultant to the Commission on Maine’s Future’s Technology Subcommittee.  Howard served as President of the University of Maine’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter from 1988 until 2011 and provides important university-wide service as a member of the Faculty Senate and of the Strategic Leadership Team.

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