Degrees Awarded

HPS Ph.D. Students
HPS M.A. Students
Other Notre Dame Ph.D.s in the History and Philosophy of Science

HPS Ph.D. Students:

2009 Ph.D.

Joseph Zepeda (B.A., Liberal Arts, Thomas Aquinas College, 2004)
Dissertation: "The Problem of the Vacuum in the Rationalist Tradition"
(Advisors: Karl Ameriks and Anja Jauernig)
Current Status: Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Arts, St. Mary's College of California
jrz2@stmarys-ca.edu

2008 Ph.D.

Brandon Fogel (B.A., English Literature; B.Sc., Physics, University of Pennsylvania, 1996)
Dissertation: "Epistemology of a Theory of Everything: Weyl, Einstein, and the Unification of Physics." (Advisor: Don Howard)
Current Status: Harper Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Chicago
bfogel@uchicago.edu

James Brian Pitts (B.Sc., Physics, Georgia Tech, 1995; Ph.D., Physics, Univesity of Texas at Austin, 2001)
Dissertation: "General Covariance, Artifcial Gauge Freedom, and Empirical Equivalence"
(Advisor: Don Howard)
Current Status: Sorin Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Notre Dame
James.B.Pitts.9@nd.edu

2007 Ph.D.

Nahyan Fancy (B.A., Knox College, 1997; M.A., University of Toronto, 1999)
Dissertation: "Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of Medicine,
Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafis (d. 1288)."
(Advisors: Ahmad Dallal and Phillip R. Sloan)
Current Status: Assistant Professor, Department of History, DePauw University
nahyanfancy@depauw.edu

Daniel McKaughan (B.A., Chemistry and Biology, University of Oregon, 1996; M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary, 1999)
Dissertation: "Toward a Richer Vocabulary for Epistemic Attitudes: Mapping the Cognitive Landscape." (Advisor: Don Howard)
Current Status: Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Boston College
daniel.mckaughan@bc.edu

2006 Ph.D.

Justin Biddle (B.A., Philosophy; B.Sc., Physics, University of Dayton, 1999)
Dissertation: "Socializing Science: On the Epistemic Significance of the Institutional Context of Science." (Advisor: Don Howard)
Current Status: Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy, Georgia Tech
justin.biddle@pubpolicy.gatech.edu

2005 Ph.D.

Mioara (Deac) Merie (B.Sc., Physics, University of Babes-Boyal, 1983)
Dissertation: "Mirror of the World or Submerged Unconscious? Hallucinations
and the Victorians (1853-1901)."
(Advisor: Christopher Hamlin)
Current Status: Visiting Assistant Professor, Program of Liberal Studies,
University of Notre Dame
Mioara.Deac.1@nd.edu

2004 Ph.D.

Roberta Berry (B.A., History, Swarthmore, 1976; JD, Wisconsin, 1982)
Dissertation: "Genetic Enhancement and the Utopian Temptation."
(Advisor: Phillip R. Sloan)
Current Status: Associate Professor, School of Public Policy, Georgia Tech.
roberta.berry@pubpolicy.gatech.edu

Kevin Elliott (B.Sc., Philosophy and Chemistry, Wheaton College, 1997)
Dissertation: "Scientific Anomaly and Biological Effects of Low-Dose Chemicals: Elucidating Normative Ethics and Scientific Discovery." (Advisor: Kristin Shrader-Frechette)
Current Status: Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of South Carolina.
elliotkc@gwm.sc.edu

Darin Hayton (B.Sc., Chemistry, California State University at Long Beach, 1989; M.A. History, California State University at Long Beach, 1996)
Dissertation: "Astrology in Early Sixteenth-Century Vienna." (Advisor: Howard Louthan)
Current Status: Assistant Professor, Department of History, Haverford College
dhayton@haverford.edu

Christopher V. Mirus (B.A., Philosophy, Christendom College, 1997)
Dissertation: "Aristotle on the Unity of Living Substance." (Advisors: Phillip R. Sloan and Michael Loux)
Current Status:Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Dallas.
mirus@udallas.edu

2003 Ph.D.

Matthew Dowd (B.Sc., Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, A.B., Religious Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1992; M.T.S., The Divinity School, Duke University, 1994)
Dissertation: "Astronomy and Compotus at Oxford University in the Early Thirteenth Century: The Works of Robert Grosseteste." (Advisor: Michael Crowe)
Current Status: Manuscript Editor, University of Notre Dame Press.
Matthew.F.Dowd.11@nd.edu

Ryan MacPherson (B.A., Integrative Studies, Arizona State University, 1997)
Dissertation: "America's Vestiges of Creation: Nature's Development and Divine Presence amid Pre-Darwinian Struggles for Civilization." (Advisor: Phillip R. Sloan)
Current Status: Assistant Professor of History, Bethany Lutheran College.
mac@blc.edu

2002 Ph.D.

Sofie Lachapelle (B.Sc., Mathematics and Physics, Univerité de Montréal, 1996)
Dissertation: "A World Outside of Science: French Attitudes Toward Mediumistic Phenomena, 1853-1931." (Advisors: Michael Crowe and Thomas Kselman)
Current Status: Assistant Professor, Department of Hisotry, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
slachap@uoguelph.ca

2001 Ph.D.

Alisa Bokulich (B.A., Philosophy, Washington State University, 1993)
Dissertation: "Philosophical Perspectives on Quantum Chaos: Models and Interpretations." (Advisor: James T. Cushing)
Current Status: Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Boston University
abokulic@bu.edu

Patrick McDonald (B.A., Philosophy, Seattle University, 1994)
Dissertation: "Hermann von Helmholtz's Epistemology of Experiment: The Case of Physiological Acoustics." (Advisor: Don Howard)
Current Status: Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Seattle Pacific University
mcdonp@spu.edu

Steven Ruskin (B.A., History, Colorado State University, 1995)
Dissertation: "'A Private Adventure': John Herschel's Cape Voyage and the Production of the Cape Results." (Advisor: Michael Crowe)
Current Status: Independent Scholar, Colorado Springs, Colorado
sruskin@mac.com

1999 Ph.D.

Michael Letteney (B.A., Thomas Aquinas College, 1988)
Dissertation: "Georges Cuvier, Transcendental Naturalist: A Study of Teleological Explanation in Biology" (Advisor: Phillip R. Sloan)
Current Status: Assistant Professor, Thomas Aquinas College
MLetteney@thomasaquinas.edu

Christopher McClellan (B.A., Philosophy and French, University of Nebraska, Omaha, 1985; M.A., Philosophy, University of Colorado, 1989)
Dissertation: "Science, Intellect, and Social Evolution: A Study of Auguste Comte's Philosophy of Science"(Advisors: Ernan McMullin and Philip Mirowski)
Current Status: Propietor and owner, Blue Line Coffee, Omaha, Nebraska
chrismcc@cox.net

1998 Ph.D.

Yuri Balashov (M.Sc., Astrophysics, Moscow Institute of Science and Technology, 1983; Ph.D., Philosophy of Science, Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1986)
Dissertation: "Laws of Nature and the Universe: Philosophical Implications of Modern Cosmology" (Advisors: James T. Cushing and Ernan McMullin)
Current Status: Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Georgia
yuri@uga.edu

Darrin Belousek (B.Sc., Physics, Bradley University, 1992)
Dissertation: "Ontological Commitments and Theory Appraisal in the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics" (Advisor: James T. Cushing)
Current Status: Instructor of Philosophy, Louisburg College, Raleigh, NC
dbelousek@louisburg.edu

Marvin Bolt (B.A., Physics, Calvin College, 1984)
Dissertation: "John Herschel's Natural Philosophy: On the Knowing of Nature and the Nature of Knowing in Early-nineteenth-century Britain" (Advisor: Michael J. Crowe)
Current Status: Director, History of Astronomy, Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Chicago
Marvin.P.Bolt.1@nd.edu or mbolt@adlernet.org

Vladimir Jankovic (B.Sc., Atmospheric Physics, University of Belgrade, 1985)
Dissertation: "Meteors under Scrutiny: Private, Public, and Professional Weather in Britain, 1660-1800" (Advisor: Christopher S. Hamlin)
Current Status: Lecturer, Centre for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, University of Manchester
vladimir.jankovic@man.ac.uk

1996 Ph.D.

Christopher Blum (B.A., University of Virginia)
Dissertation: "St. George Mivart: Catholic Natural Philosopher" (Advisor: Phillip R. Sloan)
Current Status: Associate Professor and Chair, Department of History, Christendom College.
coblum@christendom.edu

1995 Ph.D.

Kelly Ann Hamilton (B.A., St. Mary's College; M.A., HPS, University of Notre Dame)
Dissertation: "The Philosophical Significance of Wittgenstein's Engineering Training for the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" (Advisors: Ernan McMullin and J. Robert Wegs)
Current Status: Associate Professor, Department of History, St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN.
hamilton@saintmarys.edu

HPS M.A. Students:

2009 M.A.

Teasel Muir-Harmony (B.A., St. John's College, Annapolis, MD, 2004)
Thesis: "Tracking Diplomacy: The IGY and American Scientific and Technical Exchange with East Asia, 1955-1973" (Adviser: Thomas Stapleford)
Current Status: Ph.D. student, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, MIT
teasel@mit.edu

2005 M.A.

Patrick Slaney (B.A., Philosophy, University of British Columbia, 2001)
Thesis: "Problems of Scientific Culture: The Task of Science Education in the Atomic Age" (Adviser: Don Howard)
Current Status: Ph.D. student, Department of History, University of British Columbia
pdslaney@gmail.com

2004 M.A.

John Mullen (B.Sc., US Naval Academy, 1983; M.A., Reformed Theological Seminary, 1994; M.A., Philosophy, Texas A&M University, 1998; Ph.D., Philosophy, Notre Dame, 2004)
Current Status: Visiting Assistant Professor, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN.
John.Mullen@valpo.edu

2001 M.A.

Keith Lafortune (B.Sc., Stonehill College, 1999)
Thesis: "Women at the Harvard College Observatory, 1877 - 1919: 'Women's Work,' the 'New' Sociality of Astronomy, and Scientific Labor" (Advisor: Michael J. Crowe)
Keith.R.Lafortune.1@nd.edu

1999 M.A.

Brent D. Brower-Toland
Thesis: "Animal Souls in a Mechanical Age: Thomas Willis v. Rene Descartes on the Nature of Beasts" (Advisor: Phillip R. Sloan)

1998 M.A.

Colin Holden (B.A., Cornell College, 1995)
Thesis: "Letting the Native Speak: Professional Authority and Writing in Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth-Century American Anthropology" (Advisors: Christopher S. Hamlin, James Turner, and Phillip R. Sloan)
holdencj@muohio.edu

Steven Ruskin (B.A., History, Colorado State University, 1995)
Thesis: "Sir John Herschel's Cape Results in Context: The Production of Science in the British Empire, 1831-1849" (Advisor: Michael J. Crowe)
Current Status: Analyst, MX Logic, Denver, Colorado
sruskin@mac.com

1994 M.A.

Margaret Anne Davis
Thesis: "A Rare Union of Poetry with Science: Charles Darwin's Scientific Discourse" (Advisor: Phillip R. Sloan)

1991 M.A.

Joseph T. Ross
Thesis: "Kant's and Hegel's Assessment of Analogical Arguments for Extraterrestrial Life" (Advisor: Michael J. Crowe)
Current Status: Assistant Librarian, Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame
Joseph.T.Ross.40@nd.edu

1985 M.A.

James J. Kevin
Thesis: "Man's Place in the Universe: Alfred Russel Wallace, Teleological Evolution, and the Question of Extraterrestrial Life"
Advisor: Michael J. Crowe)

1981 M.A.

Orville Roderick Butler
Thesis: "Edward Singleton Holden and American Astronomy, 1870-1900" (Advisor: Michael J. Crowe)
1979; Ph.D. History of Technology/Science, Iowa State University, 1993; M.Juris. International Trade Law, Bond University, 2001
Current Status: Project Historian, History of Physicists in Industry Project, American Institute of Physics.
obutler@aip.org

1978 M.A.

Robert M. Hawthorne
Thesis: "Friedrich Wöhler and the Professionalization of Chemistry in Nineteenth-century Germany"

1977 M.A.

William K. Collins
Thesis: "The Early History of Nuclear Physics at Notre Dame" (Advisor: Michael J. Crowe)
Current Status: Director, Marriage and Family Training Center, Presbyterian Counseling Service, Seattle, WA
mftcenter@aol.com

1976 M.A.

Rev. Thomas Gariepy, CSC
Thesis: "The Acceptance of Antiseptic Surgery in the United States"
Current Status: Professor, Department of History, Stonehill College
tgariepy@stonehill.edu

1975 M.A.

Michael H. Shank
Thesis: "Lamarck's Early Theory of Fire: A Study of the First Volume of his Recherches sur les Causes des Principaux Faits Physiques" (Advisor: Michael J. Crowe)
Current Status: Professor, Department of History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
mhshank@facstaff.wisc.edu

Other Notre Dame Ph.D.s in the History and Philosophy of Science:

2003 Ph.D. (Department of Philosophy)

Peter Bokulich. “Horizons of Description: Black Holes and Complementarity” (Advisor: Don Howard).
Current Status: Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Boston University
pbokulic@bu.edu

1996 Ph.D. (Department of Philosophy)

Mark Webb
Dissertation: "Explanation, Explanatory Success, and Realism" (Advisor: Ernan McMullin)

1995 Ph.D. (Department of Philosophy)

Michael Dickson
Dissertation: "Probability and Locality: Determinism versus Indeterminism in Quantum Mechanics" (Advisor: James T. Cushing)
Current Status: Assocciate Professor, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Indiana University
midickso@indiana.edu

1992 Ph.D. (Department of Philosophy)

William Christopher Stewart
Dissertation: "Social and Economic Aspects of Charles Sanders Peirce's Conception of Science" (Advisor: Cornelius Delaney)
Current Status: Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Houghton College
chris.stewart@houghton.edu

1991 Ph.D. (Department of History)

Craig Stillwell
Dissertation: "The Wisdom of Cells: The Integrity of Élie Metchnikoff's Ideas in Biology and Pathology" (Advser: Christopher S. Hamlin)

1989 Ph.D. (Department of Philosophy)

Patrick A. Wilson
Dissertation: "The Anthropic Cosmological Principle" (Advisor: Ernan McMullin)
Current Status: Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Philosophy, Hampton-Sydney Collge
patrickw@tiger.hsc.edu

1988 Ph.D. (Department of Philosophy)

Timothy Shanahan
Dissertation: "The Units of Selection Controversy: A Case Study in the History and Philosophy of Biology" (Advisor: Edward Manier)
Current Status: Professor, Department of Philosophy, Loyola Marymount University
tshanaha@lmu.edu

1987 Ph.D. (Department of Philosophy)

Rose-Mary C. Sargent
Dissertation: "Robert Boyle and the Experimental Ideal" (Advisor: Ernan McMullin)
Current Status: Professor, Department of Philosophy, Merrimack College
RSargent@merrimack.edu

1982 Ph.D. (Department of Philosophy)

Robert Alfred Strikwerda
Dissertation: "Emile Durkheim's Philosophy of Science: Framework for a New Social Science" (Advisor: Vaughn McKim)
Current Status: Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, and Director of the Honors Program, Indiana University Kokomo