Dr. Pietz’s research interests lay in environmental history and the history of technology.of China and East Asia. His publications include The Yellow River: The Problem of Water in Modern China, Engineering the State: The Huai River and Reconstruction in Nationalist China and State and Economy in Republican China: A Handbook for Scholars. HIs research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton.