Info About Charles

Curriculum Vitae (Resumé)

Probably-outdated biography

I was a postdoc (of various flavors) at Monash University from 2000 to 2005. Initially funded by an NSF grant on causality and inference, it expanded to practical machine learning. I also discovered that foundational computer science has important insights for theory choice and philosophy of science. More information on my work is available from the lab page.

In December, 1999, I completed my dissertation in History and Philosophy of Science and Cognitive Science at Indiana University in aptly-named Bloomington, IN.

Twice I have taught the class Invention and Discovery. You are welcome to take a look at the last incarnation. The idea came from a class taught by Professor Michael Gorman at U.Va. and from the work on the invention of the telephone.

Maya cosmology and cross-cultural ideas of science in general remain an interest, and I have given a few presentations. I have a short paper in the Indiana Journal of Hispanic Literature based on a talk to an anthropology conference. I hope to finish revising a longer piece aimed at HPS audiences and send that off for publication. Of course I was hoping the same thing three years ago.

I have tried to maintain an active interest in 19th-century history of science and science popularization. I have not been entirely successful, in that I still have not yet written a biography on Peter H. Van der Weyde. I found his autobiography in Manufacturer & Builder and teased out much of his role in the development of the telephone. I presented this work at a Telephone History conference in Denver back about 1995, but haven't gone beyond that. Still, if you have heard of him, email me, call me, or somehow let me know &em; I hope to return to this some day.

Before IU I attended the University of Virginia where I joined the Interdisciplinary Majors Program and designed a major in cosmology and culture (astrophysics, philosophy, and anthropology), with a minor in the history of science and technology. There I discovered that there was a whole field devoted to what I was trying to study, and I've been doomed ever since.

While at Virginia I was a member of Psi Phi, the local science fiction club and a circle of great friends. I was also a member of BRMRG, the Blue Ridge Mountain Rescue Group, my first introduction to Search & Rescue. I entered the wooly world of the history of technology as a member of the "Repo Team", an undergraduate research group guided by professors Bernie Carlson and Mike Gorman.

The Repo Team begain my interest in telephone history. Once upon a time while a grad student, I edited Alexander Graham Bell's first notebook and put it on the web. That is now maintained at U.Va.

---

When I'm not working on academics I'm often playing with our daughter Riverly. On the other hand, I might be flying at the Royal Victorian Aero Club, or maybe hiking, backpacking, or bushwalking. In Indiana I did a fair bit of caving, and even some HREF="http://php.indiana.edu/~fencing">fencing, and I also really enjoy backpacking. If you are a backpacker stuck in Indiana, I recommend the Knobstone Trail. If you are a backpacker in Melbourne, you are happy.

Games are a treasured part of our family life. We enjoy especially Settlers of Catan, Robo Rally, Illuminati, Crimson Skies, Mao, and Bridge. Back when we used to role-play, we enjoyed Ars Magica, and of course, AD&D.

Perhaps you would like to know a little (really little) bit about the Twardys in general? What's there is all I know.

Flying is natural. Roads are strange.