Professor of History of Science and Technology
Professor Portuondo earned a PhD in history of science and technology after a career as an electrical engineer. Her interests include early modern cosmography, technology and natural philosophy. She has published two prizewinning books: Secret Science: Spanish Cosmography and the New World (UCP, 2009) and The Spanish Disquiet: The Biblical Natural Philosophy or Benito Arias Montano (UCP, 2019). Her teaching explored a number of general themes in the history of science, such as epistemological issues of knowledge production, methodological aspects of scientific practice, intellectual history, the role of science in an imperial context, the relationship between science, technology and slavery, and science in the context of territorial exploration.
Current Interests: The history of technology in the colonial Caribbean, Mentoring, refereeing books and articles, and serving on advisory boards of several journals and programs.