HPS Alumni

2025

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Fazeli, Faeze

• Education:  B.A. and a M. A. in Philosophy from Shahid Beheshti University; M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Toledo
• Dissertation Title: Philosophy, Science, and Politics of the Sex Binary
• Advisor: Janet Kourany
• Current Status: Independent scholar

Murphy, Claire

• Education: B.A. in Liberal Arts at Thomas Aquinas College
• Dissertation Title: Embodying Nature: A Non-Literalist View of Scientific Research
• Advisor: Nic Teh
• Current Status: Tutor (Tenure Track Faculty), Thomas Aquinas College

Tonkel, Josh

• Education: B.A. History and B.S. Biochemistry and Molceular Biology, Penn Stat
• Dissertation Title: Harvesting Knowledge: The Uses of American Agricultural Science, 1862-1939
• Advisor: Tom Stapleford
• Current Status: Lecturer of History (TPAC) in the History Department at the University of Alabama in Huntsville

2024

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Gummess, Matthew

• Education:  B.A., Physics and Philosophy, Yale University; M.A., Systematic Theology, Catholic Theological Union
• Dissertation Title: "The Science of the Cross: Towards a Cross-Disciplinary Theology of Desire"
• Advisor: Matthew J. Ashley
• Current Status: Visiting Assistant Professor, Program of Liberal Studies, University of Notre Dame

Holmes Mills, Abigail

• Education: B.S. Astronomy, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Dissertation Title: "Climbing the Cosmic Distance Ladder"
• Advisor: Don Howard
• Current Status: Postdoctoral Fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology

Torrance, Eugenia

• Education: B.S. Physics/ B.A. Religious Studies, University of South Carolina (Honors College); M.A. Theology and Religion, University of Durham
• Dissertation Title: "'Heart of Flesh': Orthodoxy, Science, and the Soul-Body Problem"
• Advisor:  Matthew J. Ashley
• Current Status: Visiting Assistant Professor, Program of Liberal Studies, University of Notre Dame

2022

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Baxley, Joseph

• Education: B.S., Physics, University of Alabama, Huntsville; M.A., History, University of Notre Dame
• Dissertation Title: "A Byzantine King in Jerusalem: Intellectual and Cultural Exchange in a Crusader State"
• Advisor: Thomas Burman
• Current Status: High School History Teacher, Pinecrest Academy

Brecevic, Char

• Education: B.A., Philosophy and B.S., Biochemistry, University of Colorado
• Dissertation Title: "A Philosophical Investigation of Patient Nonadherence: Imagining a Way Forward"
• Advisors: Don Howard and Heather Douglas (Michigan State)
• Current Status: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Seattle University

2021

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Murgueitio Ramírez, Sebastián

• Education: B.A., Philosophy and B.S., Physics, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia; M.A., Physics, University of Notre Dame
• Dissertation Title: "On the Empirical Significance of Physical Symmetries."
• Advisors: Nic Teh and Anjan Chakravartty
• Original Placement: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Purdue University
• Current Status: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Princeton University

2020

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Elder, Jamee

• Education: B.A.(Hons) and B.Sc., University of Canterbury; M.Phil., Philosophy, University of Cambridge; M.A., History and Philosophy of Science, University of Notre Dame
• Dissertation Title: "The Epistemology of Gravitational Wave Astrophysics."
• Advisor: Don Howard
• Original Placement: Black Hole Initiative, Harvard
• Current Status: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Tufts University

Galbraith, Jude

• Education: B.A., Philosophy, University of Dallas
• Dissertation Title: "Researcher Responsibilities in Climate Engineering: Values, Ethics, and Environmentally Disruptive Technology Innovation."
• Advisor: Don Howard
• Original Placement: Visiting Instructor of Philosophy in the Department of Humanities at Texas A&M International University.
• Current Status: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Texas A&M International University

Marvin, Michelle

• Education: B.A., Mathematics and Music, State University of New York College at Potsdam, 2004; MEd, Mathematics Teacher Education, Roberts Wesleyan College, 2006; M.A. Theological Studies, St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry, 2014
• Dissertation Title: "Remembering in Relation: Edward Schillebeeckx's Theological Anthropology and the Neuroscience of Memory Loss."
• Advisors: Matthew J. Ashley and Celia Deane-Drummond
• Current Status: Assistant Director of the University Writing Center, University of Notre Dame

2019

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Steeger, Jer

• Education: B.S., Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013
• Dissertation Title: "Quantum Probabilism: New Foundations for Subjective Quantum Probabilities."
• Advisors: Don Howard and Nicholas J. Teh
• Original Placement: Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Washington
• Current Status: British Academy International Fellow at the University of Bristol

Xiaoxing Jin

• Education: M.A., History of Science, Peking University
• Dissertation Title: "Darwin in China, 1870-1935"
• Advisor: Phillip R. Sloan
• Current Status: Visiting Fellow, Harvard University

2018

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Naramore, Sarah

• Education: B.A., Biology and History, Lafayette College, 2012; M.A., History, University of Notre Dame, 2016
• Dissertation Title: "I Sing the Body Republic: How Benjamin Rush Created American Medicine"
• Advisor: Christopher Hamlin
• Original Placement: Assistant Professor of History, Northwest Missouri State
• Current Status: Lecturer, University of Edinburgh

2017

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Hasan, Moiz

• Education: B.Sc., Mathematics, Lahore University of Management Sciences, 2009; M.A., History and Philosophy of Science, University of Notre Dame, 2014; Dual M.A., Alimiyya Degree in Islamic Studies & Arabic Sciences), Wifaq al-Madaris al-Arabiyya, Pakistan, 2016
• Dissertation Title: "Foundations of Science in the Post-Classical Islamic Era: The Philosophical, Historical, and Historiographical Significance of Sayyid al-Sharīf al-Jurjānī’s (d. 1413) Project"
• Advisor: Robert Goulding
• Current Status: Assistant Professor, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi

Mohammadian, Mousa

• Education: B.A., Isfahan University of Technolo, 2006; M.A., Shahid Beheshti University, 2009
• Dissertation Title: "Theoretical Virtues in Science and Metaphysics"
• Advisor: Anjan Chakravartty
• Original Placement: Assistant professor at Ahmedabad University in India.
• Current Status: Assistant Professor, Philosophy, American University of Beirut

Poole-Sawyer, Julianna

• Education: B.Sc., Microbiology, The Ohio State University, 2012; M.Sc., Molecular Biology, Princeton University, 2014;
• Master's Thesis Title: "Medicine, Then and Now: The Problem of Using Persistence as a Measure for Medical Efficacy"
• Advisor: Robert Goulding
• Current Status: Technical Editor, American Chemical Society

Solomon, Adriana (Monica)

• Education: B.Sc., Computer Science, University of Bucharest, 2006; B.A., Philosophy, University of Bucharest, 2010
• Dissertation Title: "On Isaac Newton's Concept of Mathematical Force"
• Advisor: Katherine Brading
• Original Placement: Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford
• Current Status: Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey

Slattery, John

• Education: B.Sc., Computer Science, Georgetown University, 2004; M.A., Theological Studies, Saint Paul School of Theology, 2012
• Dissertation Title: "Old Science, New Problems: A Theological Analysis of John Zahm's Attempt to Bridge Evolution and Roman Catholicism"
• Advisor: J. Matthew Ashley
• Original Placement: Senior Program Associate, American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Current Status: Executive Director, Carl G. Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law, Duquesne University

2016

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Bland, Laura

• Education: B.A., History and Medieval Studies, Beloit College, 2008.
• Dissertation Title: "Unfriendly Skies: Science, Superstition, and the Great Comet of 1680"
• Advisor: Robert Goulding
• Original Placement: Visiting Assistant Professor of History, The Honors College, University of Houston
• Current Status: Case Writer and Learning Experience Designer at the Center for Socially Engaged Engineering & Design, University of Michigan

Carrillo, Beatriz

• Education: B.A., History, Universidad Diego Portales, 2010; M.A., Contemporary Thought, Universidad Diego Portales, 2010
• Master's Thesis Title: "The Medicalization of Chilean Politics; An Analytical Catalogue of Physicians from the 1920s to the 1970s"
• Advisor: Christopher Hamlin
• Current Status: Teacher, Sapphawitthayakhom School, Tak, Thailand

Chen, Bohang

• Education: B.S., Biological Sciences, Tsinghua University, 2011; M.A., History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, 2013
• Master's Thesis Title: "The Death of Early Twentieth Century Vitalism"
• Advisor: Katherine Brading
• Original Placement Doctoral Candidate, Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, University of Ghent
• Current Status: Researcher, School of Philosophy, Zhejiang University

Ruiz de Olano Altuna, Pablo

• Education: M.Sc., Physics, Universidad de Salamanca, 2007; M.A., Cognitive Science and Language, Universitat de Barcelona, 2009; M.A., Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, 2013
• Dissertation Title: "Epistemic Values in Theoretical Physics: Symmetries, Conservation Laws, and the Strong Nuclear Interaction"
• Advisor: Katherine Brading
• Original Placement: Postdoctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
• Current Status: Springer Nature

2014

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Case, Stephen

• Education: B.Sc., Physical Science, Olivet Nazarene University, 2005; M.A., Physics, University of Mississippi, 2007
• Dissertation Title: "John Herschel and Changing Perceptions of the Stars during the Victorian Period"
• Advisor: Christopher Hamlin
• Original Placement: Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Geosciences and Director, Strickler Planetarium at Olivet Nazarene University
• Current Status: Professor, Olivet Nazarene University

Fernández Pinto, Manuela

• Education: B.A., Philosophy, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, 2006; M.A., Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, 2011
• Dissertation Title: "Learning from Ignorance: Agnotology's Contributions to Philosophy of Science"
• Advisor: Janet Kourany
• Original Placement: Postdoctoral fellow at the Academy of Finland Centre of Excelence in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences (TINT)
• Current Status: Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Los Andes

Pence, Charles

• Education: B.A., Philosophy, Princeton University, 2007
• Dissertation Title: "Chance in Evolutionary Theory: Fitness, Selection, and Genetic Drift in Philosophical and Historical Perspective"
• Advisor: Grant Ramsey
• Current Status: Director, Centre de philosophie des sciences et sociétés, Université catholique de Louvain

2013

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Baron, Jessica

• Education: B.A., Medical Anthropology, University at Buffalo, 2002; M.A., Humanities Interdisciplinary (Classics, Anthropology, History), University at Buffalo, 2004
• Dissertation Title: "Reforming the Raj: Florence Nightingale's Biomedical Liberalism in British India"
• Advisor: Christopher Hamlin
• Current status: Freelance Writer, Editor, and Speaker

Freeman, Erica

• Education: M.A., Existential-Phenomenological Therapeutic Psychology Program, Seattle University, 2014;
• Master's Thesis Title: "Darwin on the 'More Interesting' and 'Most Intricate' Problems for Natural Selection"
• Advisor: Phillip R. Sloan
• Current status: Doctoral Student, Psychology, Duquesne University

Oosterhoff, Richard

• Education: B.S., Biology and Religion and Theology, Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario, 2005
• Dissertation Title: "The Circle of Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples,Mathematics and Philosophy for University Reform"
• Advisor: Robert Goulding
• Current status: Lecturer, University of Edinburgh

2012

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Gaspar, Yvonne

• Education: B.A., Art History and Dance, University of California-San Diego, 2005
• Dissertation Title: "Varieties of Analogy in Early Eighteenth-Century Plant Sciences: Richard Bradley’s Comparative Method"
• Advisor: Robert Goulding
• Current Status: Cofounder and CEO of IP Toolworks (Software Company)

2011

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Barham, James

• Education: B.A., Classics, University of Texas, 1972; M.A., History of Science, Harvard University, 1976
• Dissertation Title: "Teleological Realism in Biology"
• Advisor: Phillip Sloan
• Current Status: General Editor of thebestschools.org

Cirilli, John Stanley

• Education: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota-Duluth, 2005; B.A., History, University of Minnesota-Duluth, 2007
• Master's Thesis Title: "The Coherence of the Astronomers: Incomplete Knowledge and Imaginative Exploration in the Marāgha Tradition of Islamic Astronomy"
• Advisor: Katherine Brading
• Current Status: Proofreader, Editor, Writer

Crull, Elise

• Education: B.Sc., Physics, Calvin College, 2005
• Dissertation Title: "Quantum Decoherence and Interlevel Relations"
• Advisor: Don Howard
• Current Status: Assistant Professor, Philosophy, City College of New York

Mayo, Lee

• Education: B.A., Mathematics, Physics, and Philosophy, David Lipscomb University, 1999; M.A., Philosophy, Virginia Tech, 2002
• Dissertation Title: "Simulation without Replication: How Digital Computer Simulations Serve as Scientific Experiments"
• Advisor: Don Howard
• Current Status: Lecturer of Philosophy at Lipscomb University

2010

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Peterson, Erik

• Education: B.A., Archaeology, College of Wooster, 1997; M.A., Anthropology, Ohio State University, 1999
• Dissertation Title: "Finding Mind, Form, Organism, and Person in a Reductionist Age: The Challenge of Gregory Bateson and C. H. Waddington to Biological and Anthropological Orthodoxy, 1924-1980"
• Advisor: Phillip Sloan
• Current Status: Assistant Professor of History, University of Alabama

Vandewall, Holly

• Education: B.A., Chemistry and Religious Studies, Macalester College, 1997; M.A., Science Journalism, Boston University, 2000; M.A., Ethics and Science, Pacific School of Religion, 2002
• Dissertation Title: "Expertise and the Disunity of Science: A Case Study in the Difficulties of Providing Expert Advice for Policy"
• Advisor: Vaughn McKim
• Current Status: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Boston College

Webster, Elizabeth

• Education: B.A., History and Religious Studies, University of California Riverside, 1998
• Dissertation Title: "'American Science and the Pursuit of Useful Knowledge in the Polite Eighteenth Century"
• Advisor: Christopher Hamlin
• Current Status: Freelance Historian

2009

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Muir-Harmony, Teasel

• Education: B.A., St. John's College, Annapolis, MD, 2004
• Master's Thesis Title: "Tracking Diplomacy: The IGY and American Scientific and Technical Exchange with East Asia, 1955-1973"
• Advisor: Thomas Stapleford
• Current Status: Curator in the Space History Department of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Zepeda, Joseph

• Education: B.A., Liberal Arts, Thomas Aquinas College, 2004
• Dissertation Title: "Descartes and his Critics on Space and Vacuum"
• Advisor: Sam Newlands
• Current Status: Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Arts, St. Mary's College of California