Lu Cheng

Professional outdoor headshot of a person standing in front of a softly blurred light-gray stone building. The person has long dark hair and is wearing a dark navy blazer over a light purple collared shirt. The photo is framed from the chest up, with natural sunlight illuminating the face and hair. The background is out of focus, creating a clean and professional portrait style.

Name
Lu Cheng

RPI Email
chengl8@rpi.edu
 

Undergraduate Degree

Undergraduate Institution
Fudan University

Undergraduate Major
Management

 

RPI Degree Program Information

Current Degree Program
Science and Technology Studies, Ph.D.

Faculty Advisor
Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn
 

Biography and Research

Area of Research/Interest:
Science and Technology Studies; War and Technology; Textile Futures

Biography
Lu Cheng is a Ph.D. candidate in Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her current research examines how successive generations of plant-based synthetic fibers have emerged from and been shaped by war and crisis. Comparing DuPont’s development of rayon in the context of early twentieth-century warfare with the emergence of corn-based synthetic fibers since the 1980s, she traces companies’ attempts to create market outlets for the “by-products” of war and crisis. More broadly, her research asks how visions of “textile futures” become severed from the material systems on which they depend.

 

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