Brief Biography
Hello. I'm Professor of Rhetoric and Communication in the Department of English Language & Literature at the University of Waterloo, and author of the NCTE award-winning book, Instruction and Technology: Designs for Everyday Learning (The MIT Press, 2010).
My research focuses on the relationship between rhetoric, the sciences of learning, technical, scientific, and engineering communication, and human-computer interaction, beginning with my co-authored book, Online Help: Design and Evaluation (Ablex, 1993). Recently I co-authored an article for Poroi: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Rhetorical Analysis & Invention that I'm really quite proud of; the article is entitled The Rhetoric of Big Data: Collecting, Interpreting, and Representing in the Age of Datafication.
I have published numerous articles, including in Technical Communication, Human-Computer Interaction, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, and IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. Additionally, I have published chapters in the award-winning Solving Problems in Technical Communication (U of Chicago P), Genre in the Climate Debate (De Gruyter Open Poland), Encyclopedia of Education and Information Technologies (Springer), Science Communication on the Internet (John Benjamins), Innovative Approaches to Teaching Technical Writing (Utah State UP), Emerging Genres in New Media Environments (Palgrave Macmillan), Digital Rhetoric and Global Literacies (IGI Global), The Society of Text (The MIT Press), and the Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning (Springer).
I live in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, with Dr. Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher, my wife and collaborator.
University of Waterloo
- Placed in the top 100 universities in the world (number 53) on the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2022. Waterloo News, 10 May 2022.
- Designated Research University of the Year in the Canadian universities comprehensive tier by Research Infosource Inc. for the 15th consecutive year / University Relations (2023) Canada's #1 comprehensive research university. Waterloo News, 19 January 2023.
- Ranked 22nd in the world for universities that produce the most successful entrepreneurs / Scott, M. (2021) Waterloo among top 25 universities in the world for founders. Waterloo News, 21 December 2021.
