Elizabeth Bennett

Elizabeth Bennett is a 2025–2026 postdoctoral research fellow with the Science History Institute’s Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry. She investigates surface mine reclamation (post-coal mining ecological restoration) in Pennsylvania, specifically how redefining AMD (acid mine drainage, acidic discharge produced by mining practices) as industrial pollutant and redefining waste coal (energy-inefficient, small fragments of coal cast aside during coal sorting) as a Tier II renewable energy source allowed the state, the private sector, and civil society groups to envision and enact new economic futures as Pennsylvania grappled with a past defined by unregulated coal mining and a future defined by ongoing energy transitions.

She completed her PhD in geography at UCLA. Her doctoral dissertation examined how surface mine reclamation reshaped state-society relations in Pennsylvania and allowed for the Commonwealth to negotiate its place in changing energy economies.