Calendar of Events

Harvest Fest will include pumpkin carving, student musical performances, demonstrations by clubs, and more.

Sound/video/installation artist, writer, and cultural geographer Trevor Paglen will discuss his innovative and probing artworks, which document clandestine military and information-gathering activities of the U.S. government. Described as "equal parts hard science, 'Twilight Zone' theater, and existential inquiry" by the New York Times, Paglen's work raises important, often disturbing questions about human nature, power, and the consequences of secrecy. 

Joel Tarr, the Richard S. Caliguiri University Professor of History and Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, will deliver the keynote address at the Goldfarb International Conference on Technology and Public Policy.

The United States is in the midst of a set of energy transitions, the full dimensions of which are unclear, especially in regard to environmental impacts. While considerable uncertainty exists concerning the future effects of energy transitions, there is also only limited information regarding the environmental impacts of past transitions. The absence of this information limits our ability to provide historical perspectives on current changes as well as restricting possible contributions to policy. In an attempt to provide some perspective on this history, Tarr will focus on two cases of energy transitions, each of which left large environmental legacies -- the manufactured gas industry that existed in thousands of American cities for over a century and past and present natural gas development in Pennsylvania.

In 1988 Tarr's co-edited book, Technology and the Rise of the Networked City in Europe and America, was awarded the Abel Wolman Prize of the Public Works Historical Society; in 1997 his book The Search for the Ultimate Sink: Urban Pollution in Historical Perspective was awarded a Choice Distinguished Academic Book Award; in 2005 his edited book, Devastation and Renewal: An Environmental History of Pittsburgh and Its Region, was awarded a Certificate of Commendation by the American Association for State and Local History; and in 2007 his co-authored book, Horses in Cities: Living Machines in the 19th Century, received Honorable Mention for the Lewis Mumford Prize of the Society for American City and Regional Planning History. He has served as president of the Urban History Association (1999-2000) and of the Public Works Historical Society (1982-83). Tarr's main research interests are the history of the urban environment and the development of urban technological systems.