Anti-Disciplinary: doing a PhD when you like too many things

PLMW 2017 keynote

Transcript

1. anti-disciplinary
   doing a PhD when you like too many things
   Chris Martens
   PLMW 2017
   Oxford, UK
   

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2. about me
   • Assistant professor (UK equiv: lecturer) at 

   North Carolina State University
   • Postdoc UC Santa Cruz, 

   Expressive Intelligence Studio
   • PhD CMU, Principles of Programming Group
   

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3. about me, real talk
   • went to grad school thinking i only liked theory,
   no applications
   • assumed i probably wouldn’t finish
   • couldn’t stop playing with logic-based encodings
   of interactive fiction games, you know, for fun
   • turned it into a thesis, graduated, got a tenure-
   track job
   

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4. about you
   • PhD, BS, masters, industry?
   

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5. about you
   • 1st academic conference?
   

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6. about you
   • 1st academic conference?
   • Giving a talk?
   • …for the first time?
   

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7. about you
   you’re in a beautiful city with fellow nerds
   relax and enjoy your time! 

   take down time if you need it.
   

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8. how many of you have felt
   like….
   You can’t decide on a thesis topic because too many things
   are interesting?
   

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9. how many of you have felt
   like….
   You can’t decide on a thesis topic because too many things
   are interesting?
   Or, you’re not quite sure if [name of your department] totally
   describes the thing(s) you want to focus on?
   

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10. my research
    computational narrative

    +

    procedural generation

    +

    programming language design

    + 

    formal methods (algebra, logic)

    +

    game design
    

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11. my lab
    

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12. research
    my thesis: Ceptre, a linear logic programming
    language that I showed could be used for
    modeling interactive narratives
    my 1st PhD student’s project: using epistemic
    modal logic to codify how agents’ beliefs and
    meta-beliefs inform their goal-directed actions
    

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13. research
    undergrad projects:
    * creating an executable model (in Ceptre) of how
    group conversation works based on sociolinguistic
    theories
    * modeling the mechanics of Minecraft and
    showing how the achievement tree can be
    algorithmically derived from their structure
    

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14. research
    active projects:
    * Villanelle, a framework that aims to democratize
    AI for narrative designers, enable them to create
    virtual worlds with autonomous agents
    * Using linear logic programming for mathematical
    models of biological systems (w/Belinda Akpa)
    

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15. research
    fields that currently or aspirationally inform my
    research:
    - visual narrative theory (comics, film)

    - cognitive science

    - systems biology

    - linguistics

    - sociology

    - history

    - theater

    - category theory
    

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16. too many things!
    hard to fit into disciplinary boundaries
    

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17. in search of a label
    computational creativity?
    human-computer interaction?
    (they want human subjects eval, not proofs)
    

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18. in search of a label
    PL? formal methods?
    (more concerned with the minutiae of programs
    than in what they are enabling)
    

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19. in search of a label
    AI?
    (synonymous with machine learning in most
    people’s minds; ambiguous connotations)
    

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20. anti-disciplinary
    a phrase I stole from Golan Levin (CMU)
    who stole it from the MIT Media Lab i think
    

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21. anti-disciplinary
    not combining 2+ disciplines but lying outside of
    discipline boundaries entirely
    overlapping or containing other “established”
    disciplines
    

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22. anti-disciplinary
    who winds up here?
    anecdotally:

    often people who already feel like outsiders in
    traditional disciplines (women, URMs, LGBT+)
    

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23. identify your values
    some of mine:
    * basic research
    * fields outside of CS (and STEM) have valid and
    valuable research methodologies
    

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24. what’s worked out so far
    1. LUCK: the US job market was really bullish for
    digital games research when i entered it
    2. PEOPLE: i’ve found kind, inspiring collaborators
    & mentors who helped me out a lot
    3. INTEREST: students flock to my lab; lots of
    public interest (i.e. Twitter) in my work; people
    know to ping me if logic/PL + creativity comes up
    

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25. what’s still hard
    1. what grants to apply for? what conferences do i
    submit to? (ALL OF THEM)
    2. is it even fundable?
    2. where are like-minded collaborators?
    3. language barriers: identifying connections
    between fields means having to explain yourself
    2+ times in different ways
    

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26. Q&A / discussion
    Chris Martens

    martens@csc.ncsu.edu

    http://go.ncsu.edu/martens
    twitter: @chrisamaphone

    

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