Taylor Coplen
Research Interests: History of technology; East Asian studies; international science policy; postcolonial science studies; STS; transnational knowledge flows; post-secondary STEM education policy.
Taylor Coplen completed his PhD degree in May 2026 from the Department of the History of Science at Harvard. His dissertation, “Building Between the Blocs: Engineering Non-Alignment in Cold War Cambodia,” examines how Cambodian leaders combined infrastructure, technical expertise, and development aid from competing Cold War powers to advance national development and political autonomy.
He has been appointed as a postdoctoral Research Fellow in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His current research interests include the history of technology, development, and international relations in Cold War Southeast Asia.
His previous work examined the historical agglomeration of consumer electronics manufacturing in the Pearl River Delta region. Across these projects, his research seeks to contribute to a more global history of science and technology.
Presentations:
“Workshops of Non-Alignment: Chinese Industrial Aid and Cambodian Development,” presented at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference as part of the panel “Engineering Asia 2.0: Technology Synthesis, Socialist Adaptation, and Non-Aligned Development,” March 2026.
“Cambodia’s History of Nonaligned Technology Policy and Waterway Management,” presented at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference as part of the panel “Cambodia in the World: Khmer Encounters with Others,” March 2025.
“Cambodia’s Infrastructure Development during Great Power Competition,” presented at the Fung Scholars Leadership Conference, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, October 2023.
“Decentralized Hardware Production: Makerspaces, Shanzhai, and the Future of Shenzhen’s Technology Industries,” presented at the Interrogating Innovation Symposium, Nanyang Technological University, August 2019.
Previous Degrees:
B.A., Philosophy; History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine, University of Chicago;
M.A., China Development Studies, The University of Hong Kong
A.M., History of Science, Harvard University
Ph.D., History of Science, Harvard University