profile pic

Allen R

- Research Program Mentor

PhD at Stanford University

Expertise

projects that combine computing/programming and literature, language, or history; myth, ancient literature, Ancient Greek, Latin; analyzing language and literature with AI; linguistics

Bio

I'm a former Classics and digital humanities professor turned technology entrepreneur. As a professor, I taught everything from ancient literature and languages, myth and culture, and the history of technology, to programming, web development, and AI. My special expertise is in Ancient Greek language and literature, myth, and the computational study of language. Right now I'm co-founder of a technology startup that builds AI-powered software for workplace knowledge transfer. Whatever the topic, I'm as excited to dig into the details of a particular literary work or feature of language as I am to help build something new at the intersection of technical domains and humanistic research. I grew up near Philadelphia and have lived in Chicago, north Florida, and now the San Francisco Bay Area. When I was in high school I thought I would end up being a theoretical physicist -- or a movie director. On the side I play saxophone and clarinet, write a bit, and repair an occasional typewriter.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Educational games with generative AI

In this project you will create an app that uses the cutting edge of language AI to teach a subject of your choice as a game. Just in the past year there has been a revolution in how we use computers to analyze language. A whole new field is emerging where humans train AI with regular language. In this project you'll learn these new techniques, as well as a bit of Python programming and web technologies. If you'd like to share your app with others, then you can also use this project to learn about business, entrepreneurship, and how software gets made.

Ancient World Expert AI

In this project you'll train a computer AI to teach your fellow students about some part of the ancient world. Perhaps you'll create an expert AI in ancient myth, or Greek drama, or Ancient Egyptian history. You'll learn a lot more about your chosen subject area (remember, AI often lies, even when it sounds like it knows what it's doing) and gain skills in researching and understanding the ancient world. At the same time this project will teach you some programming basics and give you practical wisdom about both the opportunities and the risks of current AI.

Ancient Literature Deep Dive

You choose any work of literature from the ancient world (or the middle ages) and we delve deep on a particular aspect of the work. You can produce a research report and build high level research skills. Or, if you are creatively inclined, we can focus on helping you produce your own translation (even if you don't know the language of the original). In the process you would learn about translation studies and can start learning the basics of the original language as well as producing your own interpretation of the ancient work.

Yesterday's Technology Today

In this project you create a history of technology podcast. You research and learn about the way that new technologies impact our understanding of old technologies. Choose a non-current technology, whether recent (for example, typewriters, film camera, retro computing, etc.), older (quill and parchment books, owl post), or ancient (papyrus, clay tablets, etc.); then we tackle the big idea of how our modern technological world impacts our take on the previous world. You present your research as a podcast or a more retro audio product. In addition to learning about and researching the history of technology, you also can try your hand at audio production.

Coding skills

Python, R, Javascript/Typescript/Nodejs, React, HTML, CSS, XML (and TEI), Linux; SQL, noSQL, graph databases, vector databases, prompt engineering; AI/ML, NLP, LLMs, deep learning

Languages I know

Ancient Greek, "fluent"; Latin, "fluent"; German, intermediate; French, intermediate; Italian, intermediate; Akkadian, basic; Middle Egyptian, basic; Coptic, basic

Teaching experience

I was a professor of Classics and then digital humanities for 15+ years before leaving higher education to found a software company in 2021. I taught large undergraduate introductory humanities courses (paleolithic to modernity) which included a required research project capstone. I regularly supervised undergraduate and graduate research projects (BA theses, MA projects, PhD dissertations) and facilitated independent studies and independent research on particular topics of interest to individual students. I also served as primary advisor for all MA projects in the digital humanities program, working on projects ranging from computational work to social media studies, archaeology, and literary and historical research. I have taught all levels of Ancient Greek and Latin from introductory to PhD, including forays into spoken Ancient Greek. I taught reading enrichment courses to all ages, K-12, college, and adult, through the Institute for Reading development. I have also regularly taught continuing education courses on the ancient world.

Credentials

Work experience

Logoi (2021 - Current)
Co-founder, CPO/CTO
Florida State University (2017 - 2021)
Associate Teaching Professor, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities
Florida State University (2015 - 2017)
Assistant Teaching Professor, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities
Florida State University (2007 - 2015)
Assistant Professor, Department of Classics

Education

University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
BA Bachelor of Arts (1998)
Classics, Comparative Literature
Stanford University
PhD Doctor of Philosophy (2004)
Classics

Interested in working with expert mentors like Allen?

Apply now