Dr. Tom Beamish received his Ph.D. in 1999 and is currently Assistant Professor
of Sociology, University of California-Davis in July of 2003.

Dr. Beamish’s areas of expertise and interest include complex/formal/informal
organization, economic, and environmental sociology. What ties these ostensibly
divergent interests together is his research focus on the intersection of institutions,
organizations, and interpretive work. Through participatory field work in a diverse
range of settings and in-depth interviews with an equally varied set of respondents
—oil fields, commercial construction sites, community leaders, and anti-war
protestors among others—Dr. Beamish’s recent and past research projects have
extensively explored these and related topics.

Specifically, his most recent projects have involved an examination of the creation
and response to a massive oil spill, in Central California (see publications, Silent
Spill below) and another that explores the organization of commercial construction
markets in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. In the later and still
ongoing research effort, Dr. Beamish’s interest is in better understanding innovation
processes in this industrial-marketplace as they relate to the adoption (or resistance
to adoption) of new technologies, designs, and social organizational patterns.

Dr. Beamish's publications include a recently published book, Silent Spill: The
Organization of an Industrial Crisis (MIT Press, February 2002) and professional
journal articles that have appeared in The Journal of Social Problems, Organization
and Environment, and the Annual Review of Sociology among others.  Dr. Beamish
has also participated in and co-authored two grant funded and publicly distributed
reports for the Minerals Management Service and The California Institute of Energy
Efficiency, Lawrence Berkeley Labs.

Curriculum Vitae

Select Publications:
Nicole W. Biggart and Thomas D. Beamish. 2003. “The Economic Sociology of
Conventions: Habit, Custom, Practice and Routine in Market Order. Annual Review
of Sociology. (Forthcoming).

Thomas D. Beamish. 2002. Silent Spill: The Organization of Industrial Crisis.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Series title: Urban and Industrial Environments.)

Thomas D. Beamish. 2002. “Waiting For Crisis: Regulatory Inaction and Ineptitude
and the Case of the Guadalupe Dunes Oil Spill.” Social Problems. Vol. 49, No. 2.
May: 150-177.

Thomas D. Beamish. 2001. “Environmental Threat and Institutional Betrayal: Lay
Public Perceptions of Risk in the San Luis Obispo County Oil Spill.” Organization
and Environment. March 2001. Vol. 14, No. 1 March: 5-33.

Thomas D. Beamish. 2000. “The Tri-Counties as Technological Innovation Motivator.”
Fifth California Islands Symposia Compendium. Cost Mesa, CA: MBC Environmental
Sciences. Vol. 5, February: 686-694.

Thomas D. Beamish and Krista Paulson. 2000. “Santa Barbara Channel Post-
Petroleum Economy: Environmental Consulting Proliferates.” California Islands
Symposia Compendium. Santa Barbara, CA: MBC Environmental Sciences.
February 2000. Vol. 5: 698-702.

Thomas D. Beamish. 2000. “Accumulating Trouble: Complex Organization, a Culture
-of-Silence, and a Secret Spill.” Social Problems. Vol. 47, No. 4. November: 473-498.

Thomas D. Beamish, Harvey Molotch, and Richard Flacks. 1995. “Who Supports
the Troops? Vietnam, the Gulf War and the Making of Collective Memory.” Social
Problems. Vol. 42, No. 3. August: 344-360.