Charles Deiss was a paleontologist and geologist who was born in Kentucky and studied at Miami University of Ohio (B.A., 1925). In 1946 he moved to Bloomington, Indiana, to become chair of the Department of Geological Sciences and the Indiana State Geologist. Deiss was instrumental in establishing the IU Field Station near Whitehall Montana and he collected many fossils from the Paleozoic sections in that region. He is especially known for his work on Cambrian faunas and stratigraphy from western North America.

The impetus and vision that created the Indiana University Geologic Field Station came from Charles Frederick Deiss. His experience in the Rockies and his teaching at the University of Montana (1929-45) led him to select the South Boulder Valley as the site for the Field Station when he came to Indiana as department chairman and State Geologist in 1945.

Dr. Deiss selected the South Boulder Valley as the site for the Field Station because "the region offers more extensive and varied geologic phenomena than any other area of equal size in the United States." After a July 1948 visit by the IU Purchasing Agent and the Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, the present site was selected for purchase.

He was director of the Field Station for its first two years, and he continued to have a strong role in the programs there (usually leading the Glacier Trip) until his death, June 13, 1959, at age 56. The Deiss Scholarship Fund honors him, and the Lodge was named in his memory at the 1999 50th Anniversary celebration.