Wells' research focuses on 20th Century United States environmental history. He
combines the perspectives of environmental history, cultural history, and the history of
technology to examine the evolution of U.S. environmental problems, policies and
movements. His dissertation, “Car Country: Automobiles, Roads, and the Shaping of the
Modern American Landscape, 1890-1929,” uses multidisciplinary approaches to explain the
evolution and environmental impact of the automobile and related technologies. A second
research project is a multidisciplinary examination of the history of the Appalachian
Trail and the beginnings of ecotourism.
EDUCATION: B.A., Williams College, 1995; M.A., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1997;
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2004.
Wells has been teaching at Macalester since 2005.
