Ph.D. Carnegie Mellon University

Dissertation: Miracle Miles: From Roadbuilding to American Highway Engineering, 1893-1933
Tentative Book Manuscript Title: Miracle Miles: How Highways Won the West, 1893-1933

Amanda Katz is a Lecturer and the Graduate Program Coordinator in the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University, from where she received her Ph.D. in American History in 2021. A cultural and environmental historian, she specializes in the study of community responses to advancements in technology and infrastructure. Her dissertation, “Miracle Miles: From Roadbuilding to American Highway Engineering, 1893-1933,” which she is currently revising into a book manuscript, traces the origins of modern highway engineering as governmental, industrial, and academic researchers faced the challenges of rural road improvement. Amanda’s work has been supported by the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Lexington Group for Transportation History.