Phylogenetic methods, cultural evolution, archaeology, and artificial intelligence
Andrew Van Horn is a postdoctoral fellow in the QuantLab conducting research at the intersection of biological anthropology, human evolution, and computational analysis.
Research directions
- Phylogenetic and comparative methods for questions about hominin evolution, classification, and long-term taxonomic pattern.
- Cultural evolution approaches to archaeology, with attention to transmission, inheritance, and macro-scale historical change.
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning as tools for pattern recognition, modeling, and inference in human and archaeological data.
- Interdisciplinary quantitative work that connects anthropology, archaeology, perception, cooperation, and computation.
Background and intersecting work
Andrew was trained as a biological anthropologist, focusing on primate taxonomy and systematics. He has increasingly focused on humans, perception, cooperation, and computation. His current work is a diverse application of data science and machine learning methods for constructing biological and cultural phylogenies and identifying artistic practice regimes in paintings associated with El Greco and his workshop, while earlier work examined mutual aid and responses to unpredictability in health and personal finance.
That combination of anthropological training and computational practice makes Andrew a strong fit for QuantLab efforts that connect evolutionary questions, formal methods, and AI development.
External links
Andrew Van Horn personal site
Curriculum Vitae
Case Western project summary
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Postdoctoral researcher working on phylogenetic methods, cultural evolution, archaeology, and artificial intelligence.