About Me
I am a PhD Candidate in the Philosophy Department at Rutgers University. Before coming to Rutgers, I earned a B.A. in Philosophy & History at Dartmouth College, where I graduated summa cum laude. While at Rutgers, I have served as Managing Editor for Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion, Managing Editor for Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, and Undergraduate Advisor for the Rutgers Philosophy Department In May 2018, I was one of four graduate students from the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences to receive the Rutgers School of Arts & Sciences Award for Distinguished Contribution to Undergraduate Education. This past academic year (2018-2019), I co-authored with Dean Zimmerman and Laura Callahan a grant proposal for an interdisciplinary project entitled “Science-Engaged Philosophy of Religion: God, Time, and Creation." In May 2019, the John Templeton Foundation awarded the Rutgers Center for Philosophy of Religion a $1,031,088 grant for this project,
I conduct research and teach in ancient philosophy, medieval philosophy, philosophy of religion, and metaphysics. I am especially interested in the Aristotelian philosophical tradition, both as an object of historical investigation and as a living tradition of perennial interest and influence. My research touches on a number of themes from that tradition, including ideas about essence, form, definition, person, substance, nature, soul, and scientific knowledge (epistēmē).
I am currently completing my doctoral dissertation, which is entitled "Essence, Definition, and Scientific Inquiry in Aristotle." My dissertation committee includes Robert Bolton (Rutgers University; chair), Marko Malink (New York University), Jonathan Schaffer (Rutgers University), and Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers University). The central task of my dissertation is to clarify Aristotle's concepts of essence and definition and the role that these concepts play in Aristotle's sophisticated account of scientific and philosophical inquiry.