About Me
I’m a digital humanities scholar and information scientist with a background in U.S. literary history and creative writing. I’m currently a PhD student in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana – Champaign. My research is guided by my background in the humanities but applies novel methods drawn from natural language processing (NLP), machine learning, AI, and cultural analytics. I apply these methods to answer questions about U.S. literary history, texts, and culture. I’m particularly interested in formations of place in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries–not just place as a material dimension, but as a cultural, expressive, and phenomenological concept. At the same time, I also study various computational methods in the digital humanities, trying always to find new applications of digital tools and methods in my work. By necessity (and genuine interest), I also study print history, bibliography, print technology, and digitization, because these subjects largely define the data I use in research.
I’ve also been an undergraduate writing instructor for a decade. My teaching career began as an MFA student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Upon graduation, I continued to teach in the English Department as an adjunct faculty member. In 2021, I left to continue my graduate education in the English Department at Washington State University where I taught as instructor of record. Then in 2022, I joined the iSchool at the University of Illinois, Urbana – Champaign, where I taught IS312: Reading & Writing Data–an advanced composition and digital humanities course that encourages students to explore programming languages, digital platforms, and large language models through their writing processes. I taught this class as instructor of record and I assisted in developing its curriculum.
Since 2017, I’ve also had a parallel career in the rare book trade. I started as a rare bookseller and rare book specialist at Bauman Rare Books in Las Vegas. Then in 2023, my wife and I launched Evening Land Books, our own online rare book firm. We primarily handle modern first editions and general high-spots from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We founded our bookshop with the express purpose of making book collecting an exciting and accessible pastime for everyone. We are members of the Midwest Antiquarian Booksellers Association (MWABA) and the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA). We operate online for the most part, but occasionally attend pop-ups and book fairs.
When I’m not researching, teaching, or working on the book business, I enjoy weight training, reading for leisure, computer programming, and chess. I also collect modern first editions, chess books, and regional histories of the Midwest. I adore my dog, Sir Francis Bacon. Years ago, before I set about this bookish lifestyle, I thought I was destined to become a riverboat captain in the sleepy town where I grew up. Every summer, I’d work on the riverboats that hosted dinner parties and music and buffets on the St. Croix River. In the winters, I worked as a Zamboni driver and a chairlift operator. These were my blue collar origins. I have plenty of nostalgia for those days, but I also couldn’t be happier with my choices. For the most part, I’ve perfectly married my nerdy interests with my professional life, and in turn, every day is a privilege.
If you’d like to get in touch, please use the form on the contact page. You can also follow me on BlueSky or visit my blog for recent updates.