Rate My Professor Jenna Tonn

Jenna Tonn is a historian of science whose work examines the social and cultural dimensions of technical knowledge production. She earned her Ph.D. in History of Science from Harvard University, with a dissertation titled "The Show-Room and the Workshop: The Laboratory within the Natural History Museum and the Development of American Biology, 1850–1935," supported by a 2012–2013 Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine. Tonn also holds a B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University. She joined Boston College as a Core Fellow, teaching interdisciplinary courses, and now serves as Associate Professor of the Practice and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Engineering, holding a courtesy appointment in the History Department. Her career emphasizes integrating historical perspectives into engineering education and fostering multidisciplinary collaboration.

Tonn's research centers on women and gender in STEM fields, the history of biology, and engineering education. She is authoring a book, Boys in the Lab: Masculinity and the Rise of the American Life Sciences, which investigates manliness, experimental biology, and belonging in modern science. Key publications include "Extralaboratory Life: Gender Politics and Experimental Biology at Radcliffe College, 1894–1910" (Gender & History, 2017), "Laboratory of Domesticity: Gender, Race, and Science at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, 1903–1930" (History of Science, 2019), "Domesticated Animals on Display at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 1900–1928" (Endeavour, 2019), and chapters in Curriculum by Design: Innovation and the Liberal Arts Core (Fordham University Press). Recent works feature conference papers such as "Engineering as Conflict: A Framing for Liberal Engineering Education" (ASEE, 2024) and forthcoming articles like "Visions of the Academic Workplace: Ruth Hubbard and the Gendered Dimensions of Space in the Harvard Biological Laboratories" in Centaurus. In the classroom, Tonn teaches courses on the history of science, technology, and engineering, including "Making the Modern World: Design, Ethics, and Engineering," "Science, Technology, and American Society," and "Nature on Exhibit: From Sea Monsters to SeaWorld." She employs collaborative projects, quantitative methods, and reflective practices to promote inclusive learning.