Rachel is Lecturer in the UCLA Cluster Program and former Postdoctoral Fellow (2016–2018) and Oral Historian-in-Residence (2018–2019) in UCLA’s Center for the Study of Women and Institute for Society and Genetics. She is co-coordinator of the Coronavirus Multispecies Reading Group with Eben Kirksey. Vaughn’s research engages the intersections of food, discard and feminist science studies. She is the author of multiple articles about food, waste, sanitation politics and biotechnology, and is co-editor of Edible Feminisms: On Discard, Waste & Metabolism (Food, Culture & Society). Her monographs on food waste and phytoestrogen metabolism are under contract. Vaughn holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of Kansas.