Lisa Ruth Rand is a historian of science, technology, and the environment, with a primary interest in discarded and decaying things. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Science History Institute. Her first book project, currently in progress, explores the history of space junk, tracing the Cold War transformation of Earth orbit from a boundless expanse to a limited natural resource.

Lisa earned her PhD in history and sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania. She recently held a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Center for the Humanities and served as a program coordinator and postdoctoral fellow in residence at the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine. She has also held positions at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and the RAND Corporation.