Tommy’s research is at the intersection of environmental political thought and science and technology studies (STS). His dissertation explores appeals to the metphor rootedness as a mode of orientation in the overlapping crises of the New Climatic Regime as articulated by Bruno Latour. Each chapter of this project “petals,” presenting a contemporary perspective of roots guided by Simone Weil’s vision of rootedness in “The Need for Roots.” Chapter 1 addresses the EJ movement’s use of roots a way of knowing. Chapter 2 addresses memory studies use of roots as a means of confronting legacies of political violence. Chapter 3 addresses roots as an obligation to the future through the work of the New Left.
Outside of his dissertation, Tommy is a researcher on a Sloan Foundation funded grant exploring the socio-technical aspects of BNSF and Berkshire Hathaway’s transition to lithium-battery powered trains in Southern California. This work draws from the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) to explain decision-making in socio-technical transitions.
Additionally, Tommy has published outside of political science with Sharon Kaye in a children’s philosophy textbook: Take a Stand: Philosophical Arguments for Teens. This project was the conclusion to a program called Philosophy for Kids which taught philosophy as an extraciriccular in Cleveland middle schools. Tommy also engages in creative writing and has published a series of poems in the John Carroll Review.
