Frank Trocco

Frank Trocco holds a Ph.D. in the Social Studies of Science from the Union Institute. In 1978, he co-founded the National Audubon Society Expedition Institute (AEI), creating undergraduate and graduate degree programs in environmental studies. Since the summer of 1989 (when he spent a year living at a Navajo trading post in Rough Rock, AZ), he has participated every fall in the Navajo nine-night Nightway Ceremony, a traditional healing ritual.  From 1972 through 1992 he attended Kachina dances every spring on the Hopi and Zuni reservations, and since 1990 he has attended yearly Easter ceremonies in Yaqui (Tucson, AZ), Tarahumara (Chihuahua, Mexico), and Tzotzil (Chiapas, Mexico) communities. In his Ph.D., he investigate scientists who study phenomena and healing modalities that are considered scientifically unorthodox. He has a particular interest in looking at science as it is applied in areas of popular culture and the conflicts between popular and orthodox conceptions of science. Frank is the co-author (with Trevor Pinch) of Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer (Harvard, 2002), a look at the social history of technology and electronic music. He is currently working on a book about Navajo healing and spirituality.