Anto Mohsin

About

Anto Mohsin is assistant professor in residence in the Liberal Arts Program at Northwestern University in Qatar. He’s also an affiliated faculty member of Northwestern University’s Science in Human Culture Program in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. He teaches introductory and upper level courses in Science and Technology Studies (STS), an interdisciplinary field examining science and technology critically in their broader sociopolitical contexts. Mohsin received his PhD in STS from Cornell University.

Prior to joining Northwestern Qatar, he held a Henry Luce Postdoctoral Fellowship in Asian Environmental Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges where he taught courses on environment and development in Southeast Asia and an introduction to environmental studies. Mohsin has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the City College of New York and used to work for General Electric, where he and his colleagues applied for and obtained three United States patents. 

Mohsin's teaching and research interests include environmental studies, energy studies (electricity especially), and disaster studies, examining topics in these areas using an STS perspective. He’s also a student of Indonesia studies and has been trying to productively engage this field with STS. His peer-reviewed articles have appeared in Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia; East Asian Science, Technology, and Society: An International Journal; Arcadia; and The Korean Journal for the History of Science. His review essays have been published in East Asian Science, Technology, and Society: An International Journal; Technology and Culture; and Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies.

Mohsin is currently completing a book manuscript on the sociopolitical history of electrification in post-independence Indonesia (1945-1998), in which he examines how social justice concerns, nation-building projects, and the ideology of national development shaped, and were also shaped, by Indonesia’s electrification programs.

Most recently, Mohsin developed an interest in science journalism and communication. He is currently working with two fellow principal investigators and a postdoctoral researcher on assessing the science journalism landscape in Qatar and how science news published online and in print could foster public understanding and engagement.

With a team of Northwestern Qatar students, he has explored various science journalism themes in the COVID-19 era and published their findings in a podcast. The podcast episodes can be accessed on the Science Journal website.

Teaching

• Interdis 242 Topics in STS: Introduction to Science and Technology Studies
• Interdis 242 Topics in STS: Science, Technology, and Society
• Interdis 242 Topics in STS: Our Electrified World
• Interdis 379 Special Topics in STS: Examining Disasters from an STS Perspective
• Interdis 379 Special Topics in STS: Energy, Environment, and Society

Research

• Social studies of science
• Social studies of technology
• History of technology
• Energy studies
• Environmental studies
• Disaster studies
• Indonesia studies

Publications

• Mohsin, Anto. (2017). “The Sidoarjo Mudflow and the Muddiness of an Environmental Disaster." Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia Spring 2017, no. 5. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. http://www.environmentandsociety.org/node/7767
• Mohsin, Anto. (2017, Spring) “Lighting ‘Paradise’: A Sociopolitical History of Electrification in Bali,” East Asian Science, Technology, and Society: An International Journal. 11:9-34.
• Mohsin, Anto. (2014, March). “Wiring the New Order: Indonesian Village Electrification and Patrimonial Technopolitics (1966-1998),” Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 29(1): 63-95.
• Mohsin, Anto. (2015, April). “Jakarta Under Water: The 2007 Flood and the Debate on Jakarta’s Future Water Infrastructure” Jurnal Wilayah dan Lingkungan, 3(1): 39-58.
• Mohsin, Anto. (2016, July). Beyond Words review of W. Bernard Carlson’s Understanding the Inventions that Changed the World.  “Epic Audio-Visual History of Technology Course by a Historian of Innovation” in Technology and Culture 57(3): 657-660.
• Mohsin, Anto. (2015) Book review of Sulfikar Amir’s The Technological State in Indonesia in East Asian Science, Technology, and Society: An International Journal. 9:95–99.

Awards & Honors

• Qatar National Research Fund Undergraduate Experience Research Program Grant (19-155-5-030)
• Cornelia Ye Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award: 2013
• American-Indonesian Cultural and Educational Foundation Grant: 2013-2014