His research examines topics in environmental history and the history of science. He is especially interested in climate history and is completing a project on climate change debates in the late 19th-century United States. At Duke Kunshan, his teaching interests include U.S. history, environmental humanities, science and technology studies, and geography.
He has published articles in Environment and History, and History of Meteorology.
Giacomelli has a B.A. in history and geography from Middlebury College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from Cornell University. Before joining Duke Kunshan, he was a lecturer in the writing program at New York University Shanghai.