Featured News, Graduate Programs News, News and Announcements

Ph.D. Student Receives Prestigious Fellowship at Consortium for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine

Ph.D. Student Receives Prestigious Fellowship at Consortium for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine

When Megan Piorko enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) art history at her Pennsylvania high school, she had no idea the class would be the catalyst to her career. After graduating, she attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and pursued a bachelor of art history degree. Upon completing the program, Piorko took a year off to volunteer with AmeriCorps VISTA. She credits her assignment as a grant writer with providing the foundation she needed to craft successful applications for fellowship and grant opportunities, including short-term research fellowships with the Renaissance Society of America and the Science History Institute.

During Piorko’s search for a graduate program, she took interest in Georgia State University. Piorko was thrilled to discover the university offered funding at the master’s level, a rarity in higher education. After working with a particular adviser on her thesis committee, Georgia State’s Dr. Nick Wilding, a historian of Early Modern Europe, the history of science and the history of the book, Piorko decided to remain at the university for her doctorate. This is where her true passion began to materialize–literally. “I realized I was more interested in the materiality of book culture,” Piorko explained. “I enjoy how books are made, used and produced. I like to study them as a medium and not simply just focus on the literature within the pages.”

Now in Philadelphia, Piorko has embarked upon a well-deserved, nine-month research fellowship at the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine. The doctoral fellowship provides her with the history-of-science community she desires. “I can think of very few institutions, in terms of scholarly resources and intellectual community, more suited than the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, for completing dissertation research and writing,” remarked Dr. Wilding. “This fellowship places Piorko at the center of her growing field of study.”

August 5, 2019