The Field Science group at Earlham College started largely through serendipity in 2013. One of Charlie’s colleagues from his days teaching computational methods to domain scientists, Kathleen Affholter, a geologist from Tennessee, invited us to accompany her and her students to Iceland to support their work. We jumped at the chance, and it was about 20 minutes after leaving the airport in Keflavik that we began to think about how to return. Since then we have grown and developed a number of projects largely focused on archaeology and sustainability in Iceland, working with local colleagues in Reykjavik, Akureyri, and Seydisfjordur/Skalanes.

Over the years since almost 100 students have traveled and worked with us in Iceland, supported by Earlham’s student/faculty research fund, EPIC funding, and most recently a grant from the National Geographic Society. Check-out our blogs, picture sets, and projects pages to learn about the tech we build and the food we cook.

Currently there are four leaders of the field science group, Emmett Smith (Biology), Charlie Peck (Computer Science), Seth Hopper (Physics and Astronomy), and Porter Libby (Computer Science). Many other people at Earlham and in Iceland have helped us build this program, some even continue to work with us, Craig Earley, Gail Clark Connerley, Andy Clifford, Gummi Magnusson, Olafur Petursson, and Rannveig Thorhallsdottir in particular. A number of students also made significant contributions to our growth and development during their time with us, Kristin Muterspaw, Faith Jackobs, Nic Arnold, and Kellan Steele deserve special mention in this respect.

Emmett’s bio goes here…

Charlie has been mostly teaching computer science at Earlham College since the late 1990s, before that he worked as a software engineer for a couple of tech startups. His undergraduate years were spent at a good liberal arts college in Richmond, IN, mostly studying CS while there. Cooking, gardening, carpentry, and travel occupy his time when not at work, along with the local fire department where he has served just over 30 years as a firefighter/EMT.

Craig’s bio goes here…

Questions, ideas, collaborations, grammatical errors? Get in touch, charliep@cs.earlham.edu