Office: 411 Humanities

Ph.D., University of California, Irvine

Daniella McCahey's research attempts to connect the Antarctic continent, seas, and atmosphere to themes in modern world history. Her current book project examines the development of professional science programs in the Falkland Islands and Ross Dependencies in the 1950s and 1960s, a period characterized by the International Geophysical Year, the Cold War, and the decline of the British Empire. This book examines both how external British and New Zealand policy decisions impacted the way that geophysical sciences were conducted on site in the Antarctic, and the unique ways in which scientists relied on behavioral and technological adaptations to conduct research effectively in extreme environments. She is a co-author of A History of Antarctica in 100 Objects, a global history of human engagement with Antarctica through the study of material objects, scheduled to be published by Bloomsbury Publishing in the Fall of 2022. Dr. McCahey is also working on several smaller projects related to polar history including the ideation of Antarctica as a masculine space, the histories of volcanology and botany in Antarctica, continental drift and nationalism in the Southern Hemisphere, and the history of whaling in the Southern Ocean.

Dr. McCahey earned her BA in Political Science at Northwestern University (2009), her MA in History of Science at the University of Oklahoma (2012), and her PhD in History at the University of California, Irvine (2018). Her research has been supported by numerous organizations including the National Science Foundation, the Royal Society of New Zealand, and the American Institute of Physics. She has presented her work in conferences around the world and published in academic journals, scholarly edited volumes, and popular venues, such as the LA Times Review of Books and The Conversation. Dr. McCahey is also interested in public history and regularly lends her expertise on various aspects of polar history to museums around the world. Before joining Texas Tech, she was a lecturer on the History of Science at the University of Idaho.

At Texas Tech, Dr. McCahey teaches the Western Civilization survey and offers classes in the history of science and modern British and European history.