Prof. Derr’s research concerns the social, cultural, and environmental history of the modern Middle East. Her current manuscript project explores the construction of the environment surrounding the Nile River in colonial Egypt and its relationship to the practice of the colonial state. Her research has been supported by the Fulbright-Hays Commission, the Social Science Research Council, the American Research Center in Egypt, the Mellon Foundation, and the Institute for Historical Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.