Ellan Spero studies innovation, with particular emphasis on academic-industrial partnerships, business and institutional history, and material culture of science and technology. Her dissertation project focused on the emergence of academic-industrial cooperation and production of “narratives of progress” in early 20th century America using cases in applied chemistry from the Mellon Institute for Industrial Research, MIT and Smithsonian Institution. Ellan is a postdoctoral fellow in the MIT-SUTD Joint-Postdoctoral Program.