Charan Mandur

PhD Candidate

Master of Arts, History, University of Waterloo
Bachelor of Arts, Honours History, University of Waterloo
Bachelor of Science, Honours Science – Physics Minor, University of Waterloo

Research Interests:

Environmental History; History of Science and Technology; Digital History; Canadian History

Biography

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of History at Western University. I completed undergraduate degrees in both History and Science, with a minor in Physics at the University of Waterloo, and an MA in History. My research focuses on environmental history, the history of science and technology, and digital history.

Research

Currently, I am writing an environmental history of NASA's analog missions from the 1960s to the present, utilizing digital research methods. An analog mission entails travelling to extreme Earth environments to train astronauts, conduct soil and mineral analysis, study lifeforms, and assess the viability of equipment such as rovers in preparation for navigating lunar and planetary environments. I focus on the ways the thoughts of researchers evolved with scientific discoveries, advances in technology, and growing information about planetary environments. My dissertation seeks to show how it was possible and why it was useful to find analogies between terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments.

Supervisors

Prof. Alan MacEachern and Prof. William Turkel

Teaching

HISTORY 2198B: Special Topics – Untold Science, Western University, 2025 (Lecturer)
HISTORY 2201E – Canada’s Past: A Critical History From the Origins to the Present, Western University, 2024 – 2025 (Teaching Assistant)
HISTORY 1840G – Graphic History!, Western University, 2024 (Teaching Assistant)
HISTORY 1895F – History for Time Travelers, Western University, 2023 (Teaching Assistant)
HISTORY 2201E – Canada’s Past: A Critical History From the Origins to the Present, Western University, 2022 – 2023 (Teaching Assistant)
HISTORY 2201E – Canada’s Past: A Critical History From the Origins to the Present, Western University, 2021 – 2022 (Teaching Assistant)
HISTORY 207: The Beatles and the Sixties, University of Waterloo, 2020 (Teaching Assistant)
HISTORY 105: Rock n’ Roll & US History, University of Waterloo, 2019 (Teaching Assistant)

Researcher

“Environment Canada Climate History Collection about Canadian Climate and Meteorology from 1829-1967”, Supervisor: Alan MacEachern, Western University, 2024 (Research Assistant)
“Environment Canada Climate History Collection about Canadian Climate and Meteorology from 1829-1967”, Supervisor: Alan MacEachern, Western University, 2023 (Research Assistant)
“Extreme weather events and ship wrecks in medieval England through reading patent roles, 1310 CE – 1330 CE”, Supervisor: Steven Bednarski, St. Jerome’s University, 2021 (Research Assistant)
Invited Lectures

Invited Lectures:

“FLQ and the October Crisis”, HISTORY 2201E Canada’s Past, Western University, 2025

Selected Publications

Baxter, Mary, Charan Mandur, Thomas Stroyan. “The Historian’s Role in an Age of AI: An Interview with Marnie Hughes-Warrington and Jo Guldi.” Text. NiCHE (blog), November 21, 2024. World.

Conferences

Mandur Charankamal and William Turkel, “Studying Direct-to-Consumer Television Advertising at Scale Using Mismatched Text and Video Descriptors”, Digital Humanities Summer Institute 2023 Conference & Colloquium, 2023

Service

Artificial|Natural AI Workshop, 2024
Panel Chair, Western History Graduate Conference, Western University, 2024
Campus Tours, Western University, 2024
Goodman Lecture Series, Western University, 2023
Highschool History Day Tutorial Leader, Western University, 2023
Digital Archives Professional Training Workshop¸ Western University, 2023
Teaching Assistant Training Workshop¸ Western University, 2023
Goodman Lecture Series, Western University, 2022
Environments for Change Conference¸ St. Jerome’s University, 2021
Tri-U History Graduate Conference, University of Waterloo, 2020

Extracurricular Involvement

Undergraduate Liaison – History Graduate Student Associations, 2023 – 2024
Host for GradCast (Podcast), Western University, 2022 – 2023
History Graduate Representative, University of Waterloo, 2020
Graduate Liaison - History Society, University of Waterloo, 2019 – 2020
Vice-President - History Society, University of Waterloo, 2019
History Representative – Arts Open House, University of Waterloo, 2019
Let’s Talk Science, University of Waterloo, 2015 – 2018

Media Appearances

Radio Western, What Tickles Your Peach March 24, 2023
GradCast (Podcast) May 24, 2022
Charan Mandur, PhD Candidate, History, Western University 2022 (School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies video)