Hi. I’m a philosopher and sometime-historian of science. I like to think about sciences that not too many other philosophers have thought about yet, and then explain why I think they’re worth thinking about.

So far, most of my research has centered around building the philosophy of nanoscience. Nanoscience is part chemistry, part physics, and part materials science. It has grown up around the development of practical technologies aimed at solving extra-scientific problems, including medical imaging and the energy crisis. To solve these problems, nanoscientists are synthesizing new materials with never-before-seen properties, and they are using scientific models and theories in new ways to figure out how to manipulate and control these properties in new machines, devices, and medical therapies.

I examine the theories, models, reasoning strategies, and other conceptual tools that nanoscientists use to accomplish their goals, and I study how these conceptual tools can in turn reveal new information about the character of scientific knowledge. My research is situated across the philosophical literature on kinds and classification, inter-theory relations, modeling, and scientific explanation.

I have great students and collaborators who sometimes get me to think about things besides nanoscience, like neural networks, acoustic phonetics, feminist epistemology, and learning science. I am also beginning a new project on agricultural science, which will complement my work on nanoscience and (hopefully!) generate a broader picture of knowledge construction in synthetic and applied sciences.

I am an associate professor in the department of Philosophy at The University of Kentucky, where I teach a variety of courses about the relationships between science and society, as well as philosophy of science, logic, and health care ethics.

I completed my doctoral work in the department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, where I worked with Dr. Robert Batterman, a philosopher, and Dr. Jill Millstone, a nanochemist. 

This website contains information on my research and teaching, as well as some of my students' work and information about the wonderful people I work with. My full curriculum vitae can be accessed here.

This video is old now, but it’s still good! Here I explain my graduate research, with some helpful and beautiful illustrations (and production design) by the very talented Michael Pisano. This video was produced for the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program, which funded some of my doctoral work.