Nicholas R. Silcox
Mail: Colby College 4000 Mayflower Hill Drive Miller 218 Waterville, Maine 04901 | Website: www.nicholasrsilcox.net Email: nsilcox[at]colby[dot]edu |
Education
New York University
Ph.D. English, 2025
Rutgers University, Camden
M.A. English, 2018
Ursinus College
B.A. Peace and Social Justice Studies, 2013
Academic Appointments
Colby College
Assistant Professor of English, 2025-Present
Publications
Articles
“Forms of Pressure: SMART Cables, Catastrophe and the Deep Sea.” Journal of Environmental Media, part of a special issue on “Sensing Elementality,” September 2024.
“Preamble: Sensing Elementality.” Journal of Environmental Media, Co-authors with Max Ritts and Rafico Ruiz, part of a special issue on “Sensing Elementality,” September 2024.
“Reading The Dissolve: Submergence as Literary Method.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, September 2023.
“ICT Environmentalism and the Sustainability Game.” Co-authors with Hunter Vaughan, Anne Pasek, and Nicole Starosielski, Journal of Language and Politics, June 2023.
“Ambiguous Speculation: Heterotopias, Language, and Speculative Fiction.” Aelurus Graduate Journal, August 2018.
Book Chapters
“The Afterlives of Subsea Cables: Oceanic Temporalities of Deep Sea Infrastructures.” Beyond Repair: On Technological Endings and their Chronopolitics, eds. Marisa Cohn and Julia Velkova. Under contract with Open Humanities Press as part of the “Technographies” series. Article accepted, Publication Forthcoming 2026.
“Linking to Sedna: Infrastructural Networks in Nunavut.” Media Seas and the Blue Humanities: Studies of the High North Atlantic, eds. Jørgen Alnæs, Synne Tollerud Bull, Liv Hausken, Susanne Østby Sæther, under contract with Routledge Press as part of the “Environmental Humanities" series. May 2026.
“Disaggregated Footprints: An Infrastructural Literacy Approach to the Sustainable Internet.” Co-authors with Nicole Starosielski, Hunter Vaughan, Anne Pasek, The Routledge Handbook of Ecomedia Studies, Routledge Press, August 2023.
Reviews
“Review of Deepwater Alchemy: Extractive Mediation and the Taming of the Seafloor.” Journal of Environmental Media, 2025.
“Review of Bitstreams: The Future of Digital Literary Heritage by Matthew Kirschenbaum.” Digital Scholarships in the Humanities, 2022.
“Review of Love and Liberation: An Animal Liberation Front Story by Sarat Colling and Anthony Nocella II.” Journal for Critical Animal Studies, 2012.
Public Writing
“Sustainable Subsea Networks Report on Best Practices in Subsea Telecommunications.” Co-authors with Nicole Starosielski, Iago Bojczuk, Anne Pasek, George N. Ramírez, Anjali Sugadev, and Hunter Vaughan, 2024.
“Carbon Offsets Versus Removals: Tips for Avoiding Scandal and Building Credible Sustainability Practices.” Co-authors with Anne Pasek and George Ramirez, Subtel Forum, July 2023.
“A New Era of Sustainable Networks Hubs?: The Subsea Cable – Data Center – Renewable Energy Connection.” Co-authors with Iago Bojczuk, Nicole Starosielski, and Hunter Vaughan, SubTel Forum, January 2023.
“More Cables = Less Carbon?” Co-authors with Anne Pasek, Nicole Starosielski, Hunter Vaughan. SubTel Forum, September 2022.
“A Blue Industry Going Green.” Co-authors with Nicole Starosielski, SubTel Forum, January 2022.
Editorial
Special Issue of Journal of Environmental Media on “Sensing Elementality.” Co-edited with Max Ritts and Rafico Ruiz, September 2024.
Public-Facing Media Production
Multispecies Worldbuilding Lab Podcast. Production Contributor, 2019-2021.
Presentations
Invited Talks
“The Intelligent Ocean.” Environmental Studies Faculty Seminar, Waterville, Maine, March 2025.
“Fluid Dynamics: Sensing Pressure in the Digital Ocean.” Elements Series Workshop and Symposium, Berkeley, California, March 2024.
“SMART Cables and a Sense of Pressure in the Deep Ocean.” Sensing Elementality Workshop, Montreal, Canada, August 2023.
“Infrastructural Remediation in the Deep Ocean.” Media Seas in the High North Atlantic Workshop, Oslo, Norway, September 2022.
“Ambiguous Speculation: Notes on More’s Utopia.” Lit 1: Medieval and Early Modern, New York University, March 2022.
“Reading Underwater & Electronic Literature.” Underwater Symposium, New York University, December 2019.
Conferences
“Survyeing the Surface: Operational Intelligences in the Indian Ocean” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Chicago, Illinois, April 2025.
“Who Answers Coral Calls?: Oceanic Soundings in the South Pacific.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Boston, Massachusetts, March 2024.
“Sensing Catastrophe: Pressure, SMART Cables, and the Deep Sea.” Society for the Social Studies of Science, Honolulu, Hawaii, November 2023.
“Elemental Commons: Sensing Pressure in the Deep Sea.” Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, Portland, Oregon, July 2023.
“Un-Earthing Reading: Literary Methods in Outer Space.” Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, West Lafayette, Indiana, October 2022.
“Electronic Literature and the Underwater.” Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, Virtual, July 2021.
“Reading through Seawater: Toward a Watery Methodology.” Modern Language Association, Virtual, January 2021.
“Unworlding with the Anthropocene.” Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, Davis, California, July 2019.
“Literacies of (Eco)Catastrophe: Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) and Reading in the Anthropocene.” Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association, Baltimore, Maryland, November 2018.
“17776 and Playing Space in the Anthropocene.” Science Fiction Research Association, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 2018.
“Making Space in the Anthropocene.” EGSA Graduate Student Conference, Camden, New Jersey, April 2018.
“Creature Queer: Species Liminality and Posthuman Ethics in Shelley’s Frankenstein.” Minding Animals, Mexico City, Mexico, January 2018.
“Mapping The Soul of Childhood: The City, Agency, and Black Boyhood in Boyz N the Hood & Cornbread, Earl and Me.” Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 2017.
“Farm Sanctuaries: Farm Animals, Categorical Liminality, and Future Possibilities.” Students for Critical Animal Studies, Poughkeepsie, New York, April 2013.
Teaching
Instructor of Record
Colby College
English/Environmental Studies 259: “Intelligent Environments: Artificial Intelligence and the Environment,” 2026
English 493: “Environmental Futurisms of the Global South,” 2026
English/Environmental Studies/Science and Technology Studies 283: "Environmental Humanities: Stories of Crisis and Resilience,” 2025
New York University
English 114: “Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature,” 2024
Media, Culture, and Communication 1034: “Media, Technology, and Society,” 2023
English 735: “The Nonhuman,” 2022
Rutgers University, Camden
Digital Studies 302: “Program Earth: Digital Media & the Environment,” 2023
Digital Studies 101: “Intro to Digital Studies,” 2018, 2019, 2021
English 109: “Composition: Writing Lab,” 2018
English 102: “Composition II,” 2017, 2018
English 101: “Composition I,” 2016, 2017, 2018
Teaching Assistant
New York University
Media, Culture, and Communication 03: “History of Media and Communication,” 2022, 2024
Texts and Ideas Core 400: “Objectivity,” 2021, 2023
English 111: “Lits in English 1: Medieval and Early Modern,” 2022
Big Ideas Course 159: “Vegan Studies,” 2020
Environmental Studies 450: “The Multi-Species Lab,” 2020
Grants and Awards
Colby College
Faculty Instructional Technology Fellow, 2026
New York University
Dean’s Conference Fund Grant, 2023, 2024
NYU Department of English Graduate Conference and Travel Grant, 2022, 2024
Gordon Ray Fellowship, 2023
Milicent Bell Fellowship, 2023
McCracken Doctoral Fellowship, 2019-Present
Cornell University
School for Criticism and Theory Summer Fellowship, 2018
Rutgers University, Camden
GSAS Research & Travel Grant, 2018
GSAS Teaching Assistantship, 2016-2018
Research and Administration
New York University
Research Assistant, Sustainable Subsea Networks, 2021-Present
Project Coordinator, Sustainable Subsea Networks, 2021-Present
Grant Writer, Sustainable Subsea Networks, 2021-Present
Rutgers University, Camden
Graduate Writing Assistant, 2018-2019
Institute for Critical Animal Studies
Programming and Editorial Intern, 2012-2013
Service
Colby College
Critical Indigenous Studies Initiative, Participating Faculty, 2025-2026
English Department, Committee for Student Engagement, 2025-2026
English Department, Faculty Salong, 2025-2026
English Department, AI Task Force, 2025-2026
New York University
Cultural Studies Working Group Organizer, 2023-2024
College of Arts and Sciences Mentorship Program Mentor, 2023-2024
Environmental Literary Studies Hiring Committee Member, 2023
Proud to be First Advocate, First Gen Student Mentor, 2022-2023
Media, Culture, and Communication Pedagogy Curriculum Workshop, 2022
Emerging Scholars Symposium Committee Member, 2022
GSOC-UAW Organizing Committee Co-Chair, 2021
GSOC-UAW Shop Steward, 2020-2021
Nonhumanisms Working Group Organizer, 2020-2021
(Re)Thinking the University Working Group Organizer, 2020-2021
Graduate English Organization PhD Rep, 2020-2021
Graduate Program Committee PhD Rep, 2020-2021
Rutgers University, Camden
Writers House Committee for Civic Engagement, 2017-2018
Growing Great Writers Volunteer Teaching Artist, 2017-2018
English Graduate Student Association, President, 2017-2018
English Graduate Student Association Conference Organizer, 2017-2018
English Graduate Student Association Member, 2016-2018
Writers House Steering Committee Member, 2016-2018
Ralph Bergen Allen Prize Committee, 2016-2018
Research Interests
Digital Media Studies
Environmental Media Studies
Environmental Humanities
Literary Theory
Media Theory
Science and Technology Studies
Speculative Fictions
Global Studies
Media Industries
Professional Organizations
Association for Studies in Literature and Environment
Society for Literature, Science, and Arts
Society for the Social Studies of Science
Science Fiction Research Association
Society For Cinema and Media Studies
Modern Language Association
Skills
Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
Arduino Hardware and Software
Python and R
Twine