Lu Cheng is a PhD student in Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Trained in management, economics, and STS, Cheng studies the history and political economy of textile sustainability. Cheng’s dissertation traces a century-long history of plant-based synthetic fibers, from rayon to corn fiber. It shows how petrochemical systems developed during wartime have continued to shape contemporary textile transitions through American chemical agriculture.