Hello

I’m Avery J. Wiscomb, an Assistant Professor of English and Digital Humanities at Virginia Tech (VT).

My research and teaching interests are driven by questions about the cultural impact of literature and the humanities on STEM fields like computer science, information technology, and artificial intelligence (AI). For example, my current book project offers a humanities-centered history of AI as it emerged in the U.S. mid-century in the scientific work of Nobel-prize and Turing-award winner Herbert A. Simon.

In addition to my research and teaching, I have been involved in many collaborative, web-based public humanities projects.

In my free time, I volunteer for professional organizations such as the Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH) and The Alliance for Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO). Most recently, I was a member of the Committee on Information Technology for the Modern Language Association (2021–2024), where we significantly updated The MLA Guidelines for Evaluating Digital Scholarship for the first time since 2012.

These interests are informed by fellowship experiences that focused on computational methodologies for humanities data with the National Science Foundation, A.W. Mellon Foundation, the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory (HASTAC), the Charles Babbage Institute, and Carnegie Mellon University’s Humanities Analytics program.

My educational background is grounded in intellectual history and the liberal arts. I earned a BA in liberal arts from the Evergreen State College and an MA in liberal arts from St. John’s College, Annapolis. I also hold an MA in rhetoric, with an emphasis in discourse studies, and a Ph.D. in literary and cultural studies from Carnegie Mellon University.

My writing has appeared in Eighteenth-Century Studies, The Comparatist, Jacobin, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

If you are interested in collaborating on research, teaching, or digital efforts, please email me at awiscomb@vt.edu.

What I’ve Done

2024–2021 — Member, Committee on Information Technology, Modern Language Association.

2023–2022 — Research Associate at the Center for the Humanities at Virginia Tech.

Since 2021 — Assistant Professor of English and Digital Humanities at Virginia Tech.

2021 — Defended my dissertation at Carnegie Mellon on the literary history of early AI in the work of Herbert A. Simon. Committee members included Jeffrey J. Williams (chair; Dept. of English); Simon DeDeo (Dept. of Social and Decision Sciences); Jon P. Klancher (Dept. of English); and Annette Vee (Dept. of English, University of Pittsburgh).

2021 — Co-authored “Canst Thou Draw Out Leviathan with Computational Bibliography? New Angles on Printing Thomas Hobbes’ ‘Ornaments’ Edition” in Eighteenth-Century Studies.

2021–2020 — Research fellow for Print and Probability, a National Science Foundation-funded book history and computational bibliography project.

2019 — Developed and co-edited MARXdown—a collection of online reading editions conceived as a resource for online readers of Karl Marx’s Capital Vol. 1.

2019–2017 — HASTAC Scholar for Carnegie Mellon University Libraries’ digital humanities lab dSHARP. 

2018–2017 — Fellow in Humanities Analytics, Dept. of English, Carnegie Mellon University.

2018 — Helped to inaugurate a new minor in Humanities Analytics (HumAn) for English undergraduates at Carnegie Mellon University with Professor David Kaufer.

2018 — Co-curated The Frankenstein Complex to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s novel.

2018–2017 — Collaborated on The Frankenstein Variorum, a web-based project that created an annotated, variorum-style interface for five versions of Mary Shelley’s text (in print and manuscript form).

2018–2017 — Rare Materials Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University Libraries and the Posner Center and Fine Arts Foundation.

2017 — Norberg Grant Recipient at the Charles Babbage Institute (CBI), College of Science and Engineering & University Libraries, University of Minnesota.

2017–2016 — A.W. Mellon Fellow in the Digital Humanities, Dietrich College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University.

2015 — Began doctoral studies of literature and cultural studies at Carnegie Mellon University, Dept. of English. 

2015–2013 — VP Communications and Special Writing Projects for Hexagram, writer and game developer for Rob Auten.

2012–2011 — Freelance scientific and technical editor with a client focus on data visualization and communicating science.

2009–2011 — Studied philosophy at The New School for Social Research graduate program in philosophy (no degree).

2007–2009 — Studied rhetoric of technology, multimodal rhetoric, and discourse analysis at Carnegie Mellon University, Dept. of English.

2006–2008 — Studied liberal arts at St. Johns College, Annapolis, at the Graduate Institute.

2003—2006 — Studied liberal arts at Evergreen State College, with a focus on ancient Greek, Latin, history of philosophy, and classical studies.