PH.D. CANDIDATE (ABD)
Yale University
Program in the History of Science and Medicine, Department of History
Areas: environmental history, global history, intellectual history, history of science, STS
Advisors: Sunil Amrith & Deborah Coen
2019 - Present
PH.D.
University of Chicago
Committee on Development, Regeneration & Stem Cell Biology
Dissertation: “The roles of the Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) Molecules Prickle1a and Prickle1b in Zebrafish Neural Crest.”
Advisor: Victoria Prince
2012 - 2018
M.A. Joint Degree
University of Chicago
Committee on Conceptual & Historical Studies of Science
Thesis: “Scale in the Evolutionary History of the Great Barrier Reef”
Advisor: Fredrik Albritton Jonsson
2016 - 2018
B.S.
Lahore University of Management Sciences
Department of Biology, Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering
Graduation with Distinction, Dean’s Honor Roll
2008 - 2012
2020
Manuel Rocha, Noor Singh, Kamil Ahsan, Anastasia Beiriger, Victoria Prince, “Neural Crest development: insights from the zebrafish.”
Developmental Dynamics, Vol. 249
2019
Kamil Ahsan, Noor Singh, Christina Huang, Manuel Rocha, Victoria Prince, “Prickle1 Regulates both EMT and Migration of Zebrafish Cranial Neural Crest”
Developmental Biology, Vol. 448
2018
Kristin Gallik, Randall Treffy, Lynne Nacke, Kamil Ahsan, Manuel Rocha, Abigail Green-Saxena, Ankur Saxena, “Neural Crest and Cancer: Divergent Travelers on Similar Paths”
Mechanisms of Development, Vol. 148
Kamil Ahsan, “The Reef as Rock: Ways of Seeing the Coastal Assemblage in Ceylon, 1880-1980”
UNDER REVIEW, HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE LIFE SCIENCES
Kamil Ahsan, “‘The Most Modern Factory’: Coral and Cement at Kankesanturai in Postcolonial Ceylon, 1948-1972”
in preparation
Essays, reporting, op-eds, and criticism
The Alternate India: On Qurratulain Hyder’s forgotten vision of subcontinental history in “River of Fire.”
THE NATION
All in the FAM: On Amway and the mid-20th century history of multilevel marketing scams.
THE BAFFLER
Into the Disaster-Verse: On the epistemological problems climate pessimism creates for environmental history.
SOUTH ASIAN-AVANT-GARDE
The Instantaneous Injustice of Bail: On the cash bail system and its reforms in Cook County.
the american prospect
Shell’s Arctic Drilling: On the Obama administration’s record with Royal Dutch Shell and Arctic drilling.
In these times
2020 - Present
FOUNDER, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
south asian avant-garde inc.
Founding Director and former Editor of South Asian Avant-Garde, a literary magazine and a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with an internationalist ethos.
2015 - 2016
REPORTER, DOCUMENTER
CIty Bureau
Reporter in the public newsroom at the investigative journalism lab on the South Side of Chicago. Focus on criminal justice issues including monetary bond in Cook County. Documenter in collaboration with the Invisible Institute to produce open-source resources including “Task Force Tracker.”
2016 - Present
GRADUATE WRITING FELLOW & LECTOR
Yale university · university of chicago
2011 - Present
TEACHING FELLOW
Yale University
The History of Money
instructor: Vanessa Ogle
India & Pakistan Since 1947
instructor: Rohit De
instructor: marci shore
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Developmental Mechanisms
instructor: Richard Fehon
instructor: Clifton Ragsdale
LAHORE UNIVERSITY OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
Introductory Biology
instructor: shahid ali
Physiology
instructor: mohammad tariq
Apr 2024
An Argument for the Reef as Rock: Reconnaissance & Coral Reefs in Ceylon, 1944-1972
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY conference, denver · RESEARCH presentation
panel: “More-Than-Human Histories of Extraction: Violence and Care in the Technological Landscape”
Mar 2024
Tracing Coral through the Kankesanturai Cement Factory in Postcolonial Ceylon, 1948-1972
association of asian studies conference, seattle · research presentation
PANEL: “Environment and social justice”
Mar 2024
What Do We Mean When We Talk About Solidarity?
south asian-avant-garde launch, new york · panel moderator
with Azad essa, Heba Gowayed, tehila sasson, suchitra vijayan
Feb 2024
Past, Present & Posterity
south asian youth initiative, yale · panel moderator
With Anthony acciavatti, priya desai, sanduk ruit, sushant singh
Nov 2023
Development, Mining & Ecology in Sri Lanka, 1948-1998
history of science society conference, portland · research presentation · panel: “Ecology”
Oct 2023
Contemporary Imaginaries of Disaster: Disaster & Affect in Romesh Gunesekera’s Reef
Tenth Annual Wollesen Memorial Graduate Symposium, “Contretemps.” · research presentation
Oct 2023
“The Most Modern Factory”: Cement & Early Developmentalism in Postcolonial Ceylon, 1948-1972
invited talk: symposium at annual conference on south asia, madison · research presentation
symposium: “Sri Lanka Beyond Area Studies: Insights from Literary Theory for the Broader Humanities”
2023-24
Macmillan International Dissertation Fellow
2022-24
Franke Interdisciplinary Fellow in Sciences & the Humanities
2022
South Asian Studies Research Award
2020
Overbrook History Fellowship
2019
Chace Fellowship
2019-20
Pushcart Prize (two-time nominee)
2018-2019
Best of the Net (three-time nominee)
2014
UChicago-MBL Graduate Student Research Award
2013
George A. Hines Fellowship
English
NATIVE
Urdu
fluent/bilingual
Spanish
Intermediate
Sinhala
beginner
Tamil
beginner
Belizean Creole
beginner
Motion & Graphic Design
Digital Humanities Tools
Publishing
American Historical Association (AHA)
American Society of Environmental History (ASEH)
Association of Asian Studies (AAS)
History of Science Society (HSS)
Marine Science Studies Network (MSS)
DEBORAH COEN
deborah.coen@yale.edu
VICTORIA PRINCE
vprince@uchicago.edu
SUNIL AMRITH
sunil.amrith@yale.edu
FREDRIK ALBRITTON JONSSON
fljonsso@uchicago.edu
ROHIT DE
rohit.de@yale.edu
LORRAINE DASTON
ldaston@uchicago.edu