Matthew N. Eisler obtained his doctoral degree in history at the University of Alberta in spring  2008. His dissertation explored the material culture of fuel cell research and development after the Second World War, combining themes in the history of technology, energy policy, environmental politics and business history. Matthew taught at the University of Alberta and MacEwan College in Edmonton before arriving at the University of Western Ontario as the 2008-2009 Harris Steel postdoctoral fellow. His research interests are interdisciplinary, blending the history of innovation, consumer and business culture, technology and the environment and dramaturgy and metaphor in marketing, particularly as these themes relate to energy, power and transportation. Matthew is currently working on two major research projects embracing these themes. In the first, he explores the history of the construction of the North American hydrocarbon pipeline grid, an energy transmission system that grew rapidly after the Second World War. Both complementing and competing with the existing centralized electricity grid, the pipeline network became part of an integrated North American energy and power grid that allowed consumers to enjoy an unprecedented standard of living by the late twentieth century. However, this “supergrid” proved very difficult to maintain and exacted huge social and environmental costs. In the second phase of this project, Matthew assesses the techno-social response to the supergrid, particularly the rise of distributed or decentralized energy sources and power generation systems and their implications for the existing energy transformation chain.