His research and teaching concentrate on the histories of science, technology, environment, and the future. He is the author of Barry Commoner and the Science of Survival: The Remaking of American Environmentalism (MIT Press, 2007), and co-editor of Natural Protest: Essays on the History of American Environmentalism (Routledge, 2008). He is currently at work on two projects. The first explores the history of environmental sustainability; the second treats the global history of knowing and regulating mercury pollution since World War II. Michael Egan is also the editor of a new MIT Press books series titled History for a Sustainable Future, dedicated to publishing short, scholarly books on the histories of contemporary environmental issues.