University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Nicole Welk-Joerger (she/her) is an interdisciplinary researcher with training in art history, anthropology, and the history of science, technology, and medicine. She completed her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania and postdoctoral appointments with North Carolina State University and Princeton University’s High Meadows Environmental Institute. In her work, Nicole has a passion for bridging disciplines and communities to tackle difficult conversations, including efforts to define and maintain conditions of “health” and “sustainability” in the context of the climate crisis. She has worked with scientists, agribusinesses, and Amish farmers in her most recent research on animal food production, and her publications aim to highlight surprising connections and shared desires that exist across groups in the pursuit for more equitable environmental futures. Her current book project “Rumen Nation: A Story of Sustainability in the United States,” speaks particularly to the place of the cattle industry in these debates as they center on concerns about human, animal, and environmental health. In addition to her academic expertise, Nicole has administrative experiences from her years working for the City of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Rose Art Museum.
 
Nicole is open to talking about the trajectory of careers in museums and humanities centers, community-engaged research, and about topics in the history of science, technology, medicine, and the environment. Nicole has spoken in the past to food groups (history of veganism), farmers’ organizations (history of science in agriculture), public libraries (history of medicine), and K-12 classrooms (developing research and writing techniques through art).