Interests
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Science Fiction, Music, Performance, Parenting
Education
2017 Graduate Certificate in Software Design and Development University of Washington, Bothell
2004 Ph.D. in Philosophy (Philosophy of Mind, Epistemology) University of Washington, Seattle Dissertation Title: Perceptual Knowledge: Explorations and Extensions of the Sellarsian Framework. Advisor: Cass Weller Areas of Specialization: Philosophy of Mind, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Contemporary Analytic Philosophy, Critical Thinking
1998 M.A. in Philosophy University of Washington, Seattle
1996 B.A. in Philosophy, cum laude University of Washington, Seattle
Highlights from the 2016-2017 Academic Year:
Earned the Graduate Certificate in Software Design and Development from UW-Bothell
Started teaching programming classes (CSE 143, Programming II)
Created and taught a new course: “Ethics & Parenting”
Created a new course to be taught in Spring of 2018: “Artificial Intelligence: Facts & Fictions”
Co-edited (with Kristy Leissle) and published the fourth volume of “The Monolith,” an annual collection of original science fiction short stories written by UWB students. We also selected the stories for the fifth volume that will be published in December of 2017.
Computer Skills
Programming Languages: C++, Java, Python
Web Programming: HTML, PHP, CSS, MySQL
Academic Employment
2006-Present Lecturer, University of Washington, Bothell
2006-2012 Lecturer, Cascadia Community College
2004-2005 Associate Faculty, Coastal Carolina University, South Carolina
Sum. 2002 Teaching Assistant, Robinson Center For Young Scholars, UW
1998-2004 Teaching Associate 2, Philosophy, University of Washington
1996-1998 Teaching Assistant, Philosophy, University of Washington
Courses Taught
Summary: 107 courses (19 different ones) taught since 1999 at UW Seattle, UW Bothell, Cascadia Community College, and Coastal Carolina University, and Hugo House.
CSS 143: Computer Programming II
Science, Technology and Society: Artificial Intelligence
Philosophical Explorations of Science Fiction
Ethics & Parenting
Philosophy of The Matrix
Formal Logic
Critical Thinking (informal logic)
Critical Thinking and the Paranormal: How To Think About Weird Things
Critical Thinking: How To Survive A National Election Cycle
Epistemology
Ethics & Society: The Philosophy of Death
The Sophomore Seminar
History of American Popular Music
Music and Philosophy
Poetry & Philosophy
Cross-Cultural Religions & Philosophies
Applied Ethics
Introduction to Philosophy
The Meaning of Life
Philosophy of Religion (TA)
Philosophy of Science (TA)
Awards and Honors
2015 Won the award for Best Musical Film at the Oregon Independent Film Festival for my animated musical documentary short film, Bladfold, about my father’s infamous reign as the leader of a Japanese sect of Buddhism in Seattle in the 1970’s. (Sept. 2015)
2015 One of ten artists selected to be a part of Genre Bender. I created and performed A Certification of Specialness, a new video/musical/spoken word piece commissioned by CityArts Magazine for their annual Genre Bender event, in which I was paired with poet Sarah Galvin to create a new work. (March 2015)
2014 CityArtist Project grant ($6,000) from the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture for my film Bladfold.
2013 Selected by City Arts Magazine as part of their Future List, one of eleven “artists and tastemakers who will define 2013” http://cityartsonline.com/issues/seattle/2013/01/family-man-david-nixon
2013 Served as the Scholar In Residence at Town Hall; at the culmination of my residency, I gave a talk (interspersed with live original music played by me) called “The Meaning of Life, Death, the Past, the Present, and the Future.”
2011 4Culture grant ($3,800) for The Shelf, a short film commissioned by the Hugo House for “The Haves and The Have Nots”, a Literary Series event.
2010 4Culture grant ($6,000) for my multi-media one-man show about the meaning of life, Center-Cut Ham Dinner Night Slide Show.
2010 Artist Trust grant ($1,200) for Center-Cut Ham Dinner Night Slide Show.
2010 Centrum Artist Residency. Ft. Warden, Port Townsend WA.
2010 Seattle Magazine lists my band (“Awesome”) in Best of The Decade In Music
2003 Special Award in Recognition of Outstanding Contributions to Graduate Education at the University of Washington, awarded by The Graduate School and The Center for Instructional Development and Research (CIDR)
Publications
2016 “SafetyCorp Driverless Insurance” in The Monolith: Science Fiction Short Stories, Volume IV: Mostly Dark Matter, edited by Kristy Leissle, David Nixon, Michelle Fessler, Kyle Piper, and Kristoffer Warren. September, 2016.
2015 “The Specials” in The Monolith: Science Fiction Short Stories, Volume III: What’s In My Head, edited by Kristy Leissle and David Nixon. September, 2015.
2014 “Introduction: An open letter to the Grand Council of Tharstrand-6 from Kharzhak Foon, Cropmaster of Q6-ZE3 ” in The Monolith: Science Fiction Short Stories, Volume II: Everybody Dies, edited by Kristy Leissle and David Nixon. September, 2014.
2013 “Introduction” in The Monolith: Science Fiction Short Stories, Volume I: Where the Circle Ends, edited by Kristy Leissle and David Nixon. September, 2013.
2011 “The First Rule” in Hoarse Literary Journal No. 5, December, 2011
2009 “Treasure” and “The Holy Ghost” in Filter Literary Journal, vol. 2, 2009.
2009 “Democracy Now! The Stranger Recognizes the Imaginary Senator from Washington State”, in The Stranger, December 18, 2009.
2007 “A Month of Sundays: Review of Antioch Bible Church”, in The Stranger, June 14, 2007.
2004 "What Would It Mean To Directly Observe Electrons?" in Principia, An International Journal of Epistemology, vol. 8 (1), 2004.
2002 “The Matrix Possibility" in The Matrix and Philosophy edited by William Irwin, Open Court Publishing Company, 2002.
Presentations
2014 “How Students Can Create and Manage Relationships with Faculty to be More Successful.” Workshop promoted by Student Services at University of Washington, Bothell, October 2014.
2013 “The Meaning of Life, Death, the Past, the Present, and the Future.” Presented at Town Hall Seattle, April 28, 2013.
2009 “Buddhism & Fight Club.” Philosophy in The Dark Film Festival, Everett Community College.
2004 “Feminist Empiricism and Wilfrid Sellars” Conference on Feminist Epistemologies, Methodologies, Metaphysics and Science Studies (FEMMSS), University of Washington.
1998 “Another Look at Logical Behaviorism” Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Eugene, Oregon.
University Service
2011-present Member of Culture Literature and the Arts (CLA) and Society Ethics and Human Behavior (SEB) Curricular Area Working Groups (CAWGS) at UW Bothell
2001-2003 President, Graduate & Professional Student Senate (two terms) For the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 academic years I served as the president of the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS). GPSS is the student government for the nearly 11,000 graduate and professional students at the University of Washington. In my role as president of GPSS I served on numerous committees including: University of Washington Board of Regents (Ex-Officio) University Budget Committee The Landolt-Hodge Task Force on TA and RA Roles and Responsibilities Ad Hoc Committee on Changes to Residency Classification Policy Graduate School Council Graduate School Executive Committee Committee to Review Graduate and Professional Student Tuition Policy Faculty Senate Committee on Planning and Budgeting Faculty Senate Executive Committee (ex-officio) Faculty Senate (Ex-Officio) Student Technology Fee Committee ASUW Senate Steering Committee ASUW Legislative Steering Committee Student Regent Selection Committee Crime Prevention Committee
2000-2001 Lead TA, Philosophy Department, UW Seattle
1999-2001 Graduate Student Representative at Philosophy Department Faculty Meetings, UW Seattle
1999-2001 Graduate Affairs Committee, UW Seattle
1999-2000 Assistant Lead TA, Philosophy Department, UW Seattle
1998-1999 Graduate Representative, Graduate Admissions Committee, UW Seattle
1997-1998 Graduate Representative, Philosophy of Science Faculty Search Committee, UW Seattle
1997-1998 Curriculum Committee, Philosophy Department, UW Seattle
Artistic / Professional
2018: Growing Up Weird. An album of new original music from The Half Brothers about having a kid and being a kid.
2015: A Certification of Specialness. A video/music/performance piece created in collaboration with poet Sarah Galvin for City Arts Magazine’s annual Genre Bender event. An interview about it in City Arts Magazine: http://cityartsonline.com/articles/poet-meets-filmmakermusician-sarah-galvin-and-david-nixon
2015: Bladfold: The Rise and Fall of Brad Nixon; animated musical documentary film about my father’s infamous reign as the leader of a Japanese sect of Buddhism in Seattle in the 1970’s. Premiered at Annex Theatre March 14-15, 2015. (Presented as a work-in-progress with video, live music, and spoken word at ACT theatre November 2012)
Interviewed on Seattle Channel’s Art Zone about Bladfold: http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=4011349
An article by Brendan Kiley in The Stranger:
2013: The Half Brothers Brand Old Time Variety Show, a parody of musical infotainment from the 1960’s, poking fun at the increasing growth and power of corporate conglomerates in the united states. (Annex Theatre, Aug 9-30, 2013)
2013: The Half Brothers releases a new album of original bluegrass music, Half Brothers Brand Music.
2011: The Shelf: Short musical film / animation exploring two brothers’ radically different lives and a Buddhist explanation for inequality in the world. This piece was commissioned by the Richard Hugo House as a part of its Lit Series. The artistic prompt was “The Haves and The Have-Nots.” Hugo House, October 28, 2011.
2010: Center-Cut Ham Dinner Night Slide Show; One-person theatrical/video/music show about the meaning of life at Annex Theatre, Seattle.
2009: Small Town Rumors and Chicken Tales; musical/theatrical/shadow puppet extravaganza with my bluegrass band, The Half Brothers. Theatre Off Jackson, March 2009.
2008: The Half Brothers releases our first full-length album, Half and Half and Half.
2004-present: Founding member of music/theater/art collective “Awesome”.
Original Theatrical Productions with “Awesome”:
2010: West, On The Boards
2009: The Awesome Cycle, ACT
2008: Nighttime Forest Fire, On The Boards
2007: Here’s What Happened, Seattle Children’s Theatre
2006: noSignal, On The Boards
2005: Delaware, Re-Bar
“Awesome” albums: Delaware (2005), Four For Foer (2006), Beehive Sessions (2007), “Awesome” (2011), Pat Benefactor (2011), Adrift (2011), Can’t Capture Faerp Seriously (2011).
References on request