Joy Rohde

Joy Rohde, associate professor of public policy at University of Michigan, is a historian who works at the intersection of U.S. intellectual and policy history, the history of U.S. foreign relations, and science and technology studies. She is currently working on a book project that explores how advances in information technology have impacted foreign policy and intelligence analysis since the 1950s. She argues that the computerization of international affairs research has fueled by a deep insecurity about humans’ ability to comprehend and make decisions about complex, uncertain sociopolitical systems. Rohde’s first book, “Armed with Expertise: The Militarization of American Social Research during the Cold War” (Cornell University Press, 2013), investigates the Cold War origins and contemporary consequences of the Pentagon’s social research contracting system. At Michigan, she is a member of the core faculty in the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program and the Science, Technology, and Society Program. She also an appointment in the Department of History. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Rohde was an assistant professor of history at Trinity University.