Professor Hirsh performs research on the deregulation and restructuring of the American electric utility system.
He is the director of Virginia Tech's Consortium on Energy Restructuring. He also teaches courses in the interdisciplinary Science and Technology Studies program.
Course Information
Dr. Hirsh teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in history of technology and general history. Here are links to pages describing those courses.
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Syllabus for HIST/Science & Technology Studies 5206, “Main Themes in the History of Technology.”
- HIST/STS 3715, "History of Technology: From Prehistory to the Industrial Revolution."
- HIST/STS 3716, "History of Technology: From the Industrial Revolution to Today."
- HIST 4214, "Energy in American History."
- HIST 2004, "Historical Methods."
Publications & Presentations
A selection of Dr. Hirsh's publications and presentations can be found at this page.
Academic information
Other activities
- Dr. Hirsh served for eight years as an executive officer of the Society for the History of Technology.
- Dr. Hirsh is on the Executive Board and serves as a life member of the Virginia Tech Rescue Squad.
Spotlight:
Beyond Batteries
Discussion of benefits and barriers to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, by Benjamin Sovacool and Richard Hirsh, in Energy Policy 37 (Mar. 2009): 1095-1103.
Assessing US Energy Policy
Comment written by Marilyn Brown, Benjamin Sovacool, and Richard Hirsh, in Daedalus (Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences) 135 (#3, Summer 2006): 5-11.
Cover of Power Loss: The Origins of Deregulation and Restructuring in the American Electric Utility System (December 1999), available through MIT Press, Amazon. com, bn.com, and other booksellers. Also available in paperback.
