Graduate Students
The Department of Philosophy has twenty-three students enrolled in its nationally-ranked M.A. program. The Department of Philosophy is also the home department for some Ph.D. students enrolled in the two doctoral programs with which it is associated: the Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought, and Science and Technology Studies.
M.A. Students
First Year Students (2009-11)
Cristin Chall
B.A. | Email
Cristin Chall is a first year M.A. student.
Claudio D'Amato
B.A. | Email
Claudio D'Amato is a first year M.A. student.
Bob Darrow
B.A. | Email
Bob Darrow is a first year M.A. student.
Jonathan Dixon
B.A. | Email
Jonathan Dixon is a first year M.A. student.
Elc Estrera
B.A. | Email
Elc Estrera is a first year M.A. student.
Will Fleisher
B.A. | Email
Will Fleisher is a first year M.A. student.
Eric Hodges
B.A. | Email
Eric Hodges is a first year M.A. student.
Beth Hupfer
B.A. | Email
Beth Hupfer is a first year M.A. student.
James Lewis
B.A. | Email
James Lewis is a first year M.A. student.
Yael Loewentstein
B.A. | Email
Yael Loewenstein is a first year M.A. student.
Joshua Martin
B.A. | Email
Joshua Martin is a first year M.A. student.
Nick Perich
B.A. | Email
Nick Perich is a first year M.A. student.
Michael Skeen
B.A. | Email
Michael Skeen is a first year M.A. student.
Second Year Students (2008-10)
Jordan Busse
B.A. | Email
Jordan Busse is a second year M.A. student. His main research interests are metaethics and normative ethics, in particular, questions of normativity, practical reason, and moral responsibility.
Andrew Creighton
B.A. | Email
Andrew Creighton is a second year M.A. student.
Andrew Garland
B.A. | Email
Andrew Garland is a second year M.A. student.
Tanya Hall
B.A. | Email
Tanya Hall is a second year M.A. student.
Bradford Hewitt
B.A. | Email
Bradford Hewitt is a second year M.A. student.
Michael Mazza
B.A. | Email
Michael Mazza is a second year M.A. student.
Michael Milona
B.A. | Email
Michael Milona is a second year M.A. student.
Matthew Schuler
B.A. | Email
Matthew Schuler is a second year M.A. student.
James Smith
B.A. | Email
James Smith is a second year M.A. student.
Andrew Valdespino
B.A. | Email
Andrew Valdespino is a second year M.A. student.
Ph.D. Students
Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought
Shien-Hauh Leu
M.A. Virginia Tech | Email
Shien-Hauh Leus is a Ph.D. student in the ASPECT program.
Pamela Mullins-Baker
M.A. Virginia Tech | Email
Pamela Mullins-Baker is a Ph.D. student in the ASPECT program.
Yanka Petkova
M.A. Virginia Tech | Email
Yanka Petkova is a Ph.D. student in the ASPECT program.
Science and Technology Studies
M. Emrah Aktunc
M.A. University of Iowa | Email
Emrah Aktunc is a third-year doctoral student in the Philosophy of Science track of the Science and Technology Studies program at Virginia Tech. His interests are in general philosophy of science, philosophy of statistics (especially philosophical foundations of statistics and its status as an interface between the analytic/logical and the empirical), scientific confirmation and evidence, and methodological issues/problems in behavioral science and philosophy of mind.
Brandiff Caron
M.A. | Email
Brandiff Caron is currently the managing editor for Perspectives on Science (an MIT Press journal published out of Tech). His general research interests include science communication, public understandings of science, theory change, philosophy of language, ontopolitics, and punk rock.
Robert Darrow
M.A. | Email
Robert Darrow is a Ph.D. student in the STS program.
Jean Miller
B.A. College of Charleston, M.A. Virginia Tech | Email
Jean Miller's main areas of interest are philosophy of science and epistemology of experiment. She is currently working on her dissertation tentatively titled, "Observation and Experiment in the Natural and Social Sciences". She has had positions as a Teaching Assistant and Instructor at Virginia Tech and as an Instructor at Roanoke College. She has also served as the main assistant for three NEH summer institutes held at Virginia Tech.
Parissa Moosavi
M.A. | Email
Parissa Moosavi is a Ph.D. student in the STS program.
Matt Rea
M.A. | Email
Matt Rea is comleting a Ph.D. in STS and teaches in the Department of Philosophy.
Ashley Shew
B.A. Univeristy of South Carolina, M.A. Virginia Tech | Email
Ashley Shew is a third-year STS student and serves as the editorial assistant for Techne: Research in Philosophy and Technology. Her main area of interest is the history and philosophy of technology, but she also enjoys a wide range of topics, including applied ethics, domestic history, anthropology, and philosophy of science.