Sara M. B. Simon
- smbsimon@u.northwestern.edu
- Field(s): United States
- Specialization: History of Science, Technology & Medicine
- Advisor(s): Susan J. Pearson
Biography
Sara M. B. Simon is a Ph.D. student in history and a Mellon Cluster Fellow in Science Studies. Her research is in the history of vital statistics production, and she’s interested in themes of data labor and automation. Sara holds a B.A. from Wellesley College (2013) and an M.S. from the Illinois Institute of Technology (2024).
Between undergrad and graduate school, Sara worked as a newsroom software engineer and investigative data reporter. Working largely behind the scenes, she built platforms for special projects and research tools for journalists. Her bylined work focused on government technology and state efforts to collect data.
In 2026, Sara published an article in Medical History about the rise of electronic death registration. The paper is part of a special issue on data and disease in historical perspective. Sara also published her master’s thesis research on AT&T/Bell Labs Voder operators at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The article was awarded runner-up of best paper published in the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing in 2025.
Sara has published book reviews in Technology and Culture and H-Sci-Med-Tech, and over the past decade she has presented her work at a variety of academic, technology, and journalism conferences. In 2024, she joined the council of the Midwest Junto for the History of Science.