Resume

• 2006

  PhD

  Thesis: \"Knowing Instruments: Design

  Reliability

  and Scientific Practice\"

  History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

  University of Toronto

• 2004

  MA

  Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

• 1998

  BS

  Electrical Engineering (with Honors)

  BS

  Computer Engineering (with Honors)

• Critical Thinking

  Theory

  Philosophy Of Science

  Research Design

  Higher Education

  Public Speaking

  Teaching Adults

  University Teaching

  History

  Teaching

  Science

  Editing

  Lecturing

  HTML

  Academic Writing

  Writing

  Physics

  Research

  Philosophy

  Technical Writing

  Frankenstein in Lilliput: Science at the Nanoscale (Editor's Introduction)

  Since Robert Hooke published Micrographia

  scientists have been expanding the boundaries of science to new scales

  giving rise to questions about epistemology and ontology and challenging perceptions of objectivity

  life

  and artifact. Recent developments in areas such as nanotechnology and synthetic life have not only pushed these boundaries

  but have called their very existence into question. In this issue

  Spontaneous Generations examines science at the nanoscale from ten perspectives.

  Frankenstein in Lilliput: Science at the Nanoscale (Editor's Introduction)

  To one side of the wide third-floor hallway of Victoria College

  just outside the offices of the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

  lies the massive carcass of a 1960s-era electron microscope. Its burnished steel carapace has lost its gleam

  but the instrument is still impressive for its bulk and spare design: binocular viewing glasses

  beam control panel

  specimen tray

  and a broad work surface. Edges are worn

  desiccated tape still feebly holds instructive reminders near control dials; this was once a workhorse in some lab. But it exists now out of time and place; like many of the scientific instruments we study

  it has not been touched by knowing hands in decades.

  Scientific Instruments: Knowledge

  Practice

  and Culture (Editor's Introduction)

  Amy Rattelle

  Nina Czegledy

  We reflect on our ongoing series of DIY Prosthetics Workshops intended to engage the public in critical discourse about technology and human augmentation through engagement with prosthetics. The goal of these workshops is to enhance understanding of prosthetic technologies through both conceptual and material exploration. We describe our efforts to capture the makings of our workshop in an open

  modifiable “kit” comprising “three Ps:” prompts for reflection

  parts for construction

  and publics for participation.

  DIY Prosthetics Workshops: 'Critical making' for public understanding of human augmentation

  Andrew Munro

  Internet Alley is much more a book about regional history than about politics

  economics

  or history of technology

  yet it draws extensively on all of these fields. The book is stronger for its interdisciplinarity

  but as a result does not sit comfortably within any traditional historical discourse. Historians of science or technology not dealing with northern Virginia in the twentieth century will find little of help in this book.

  Review of Paul E. Ceruzzi. Internet Alley: High Technology in Tyson's Corner

  1945-2005.

  My aim in this paper is to give a philosophical analysis of the relationship between contingently available technology and the process of knowledge production. My concern is with what specific subjects can know in practice

  given their particular conditions

  especially available technology

  rather than what can be known “in principle” by a hypothetical entity like Laplace’s Demon. The argument has two parts. In the first

  I’ll construct a novel account of epistemic possibility that incorporates two pragmatic conditions: responsibility and practicability. For example

  whether subjects can gain knowledge depends in some circumstances on whether they have the capability of gathering relevant evidence. In turn

  the possibility of undertaking such investigative activities depends in part on factors like ethical constraints

  economical realities

  and available technology. In the second part of the paper

  I’ll introduce “technological possibility” to analyze the set of actions made possible by available technology. To help motivate the problem and later test my proposal

  I’ll focus on a specific historical case

  one of the earliest uses of digital electronic computers in a scientific investigation. I conclude that the epistemic possibility of gaining access to certain scientific knowledge depends (in some cases) on the technological possibility for the construction and operation of scientific instruments.

  Technology and Epistemic Possibility

  Boaz Miller

  People increasingly form beliefs based on information gained from automatically filtered Internet sources such as search engines. However

  the workings of such sources are often opaque

  preventing subjects from knowing whether the information provided is biased or incomplete. Users’ reliance on Internet technologies whose modes of operation are concealed from them raises serious concerns about the justificatory status of the beliefs they end up forming. Yet it is unclear how to address these concerns within standard theories of knowledge and justification. To shed light on the problem

  we introduce a novel conceptual framework that clarifies the relations between justified belief

  epistemic responsibility

  action

  and the technological resources available to a subject. We argue that justified belief is subject to certain epistemic responsibilities that accompany the subject’s particular decision-taking circumstances

  and that one typical responsibility is to ascertain

  so far as one can

  whether the information upon which the judgment will rest is biased or incomplete. What this responsibility comprises is partly determined by the inquiry-enabling technologies available to the subject. We argue that a subject’s beliefs that are formed based on Internet-filtered information are less justified than they would be if she either knew how filtering worked or relied on additional sources

  and that the subject may have the epistemic responsibility to take measures to enhance the justificatory status of such beliefs.

  Justified Belief in a Digital Age: On the Epistemic Implications of Secret Internet Technologies

  This slim volume contains much that is suggestive

  but little that is substantive. This is unfortunate

  as there is need of a sustained analysis of the epistemology of instruments.

  Review of Daniel Rothbart. Philosophical Instruments: Minds and Tools at Work

  This dissertation is an attempt to understand the role of instruments in the process of knowledge production in science. I ask: how can we trust scientific instruments and what do we learn about when we use them? The dissertation has four parts. First

  I construct a novel account of “epistemic possibility

  ” the possibility of knowing

  that captures the dependency of knowledge on action

  and I introduce the notion of “technological possibility

  ” which depends on the availability of material and conceptual means to bring about a desired state of affairs. I argue that

  under certain circumstances

  technological possibility is a condition for epistemic possibility. Second

  I ask how instruments become reliable. I argue that when the material capacities and conceptual functions of a scientific instrument correspond

  the instrument is a reliable component of the process of knowledge production. I then describe how the instrument design process can result in just such a correspondence. Instrument design produces the material device

  a functional concept of the device revised in light of experience

  a measure of the closeness of fit between material and function

  and practices of trust such as calibration routines. ii Third

  I ask what we learn from instruments such as those used for experimentation and simulation. I argue that in experiments

  instruments function to inform us about the material capacities of the object of investigation

  while in simulations

  instruments function to inform us about the conceptual model of the object of investigation. Fourth

  I put these philosophical distinctions into historical context through a case study of Monte Carlo simulations run on digital electronic computers in the 1940s-70s. I argue that digital electronic computers made the practice of Monte Carlo simulation technologically possible

  but that the new method did not meet existing scientific standards. Consequently

  Monte Carlo design practices were revised....

  Knowing Instruments: Design

  Reliability

  and Scientific Practice.

  Isaac

  Record

  University of Toronto

  Central Maine Power Company

  IHPST

  University of Toronto

  Honors College

  University of Maine

  Annals of Science

  AmeriCorps

  Spontaneous Generations

  National Semiconductor

  IHPST

  University of Toronto

  Michigan State University

  2013\tMateriality (Graduate Directed Reading)

  University of Toronto\n2009\tHistory of Science

  University of Toronto\n2008\tHistory of Science

  University of Toronto

  University of Toronto

  VISTA Volunteer

  Coordinator

  Office of Community Engagement

  University of Maine at Augusta

  AmeriCorps

  Editorial Assistant

  I assist Trevor Levere

  the Editor of Annals. I send and receive correspondence on behalf of the journal as well as offer assistance to authors and referees using the online article submission application.

  Annals of Science

  Website Manager

  Oversaw major redesign/update of departmental website

  http://www.hps.utoronto.ca.

  IHPST

  University of Toronto

  Michigan State University

  East Lansing

  Michigan

  We increasingly rely on technology to find information

  make choices

  and take action. My research explores accounts of communal knowledge practices

  which have even developed in exciting ways by philosophers of scientific methodology and social epistemology

  and concerns about trust in technology

  under investigation by philosophers

  anthropologists

  and sociologists of technology. I study the practices of scientists who use instruments

  the debates that accompany the introduction of new techniques to established disciplines

  and the epistemological consequences of pursuing inquiries within a technological infrastructure. I believe that empirical investigations into knowledge practices are a necessary complement to traditional philosophical work based on conceptual analysis and thought experiments. The resulting situated understanding of our epistemic and ethical condition is sensitive to a network of factors

  including values

  capabilities

  and material resources

  allowing us to better integrate our understandings of knowledge and action.\n\nI am currently teaching about technology and culture; wearable devices

  medicine and data ethics; and how to think about science.

  Academic Specialist

  2010\tScientific Revolutions II

  University of Toronto\n2009\tPhilosophy of Science

  University of Toronto\n2008\tMethodology

  Theory and Ethics in the Life Sciences

  University of Toronto\n2007\tMethodology

  Theory and Ethics in the Life Sciences

  University of Toronto\n2007\tHistory of Evolutionary Biology

  University of Toronto\n2007\tScientific Revolutions I

  University of Toronto\n2006\tScientific Revolutions I

  University of Toronto

  IHPST

  University of Toronto

  Summer Student Engineer

  Assisted in the design and installation of electrical system quality measurement and fault detection equipment at several substations. Wrote software to estimate transmission line segment electrical loss based on ASPEN software and GIS measured pole data.

  Central Maine Power Company

  Associate

  Editor

  Minerva magazine; Instructor

  HON 391: Intro. to Thesis Research; Coordinator for Distinguished Lecture series; trip and event organization; Coordinator

  HON210/211: Civilizations.

  Honors College

  University of Maine

  Co-op Engineer

  Worked within the Test Engineering unit to develop hardware and software to certify the LTX Delta-STE tester as in compliance with ISO-9000 Gauge Repeatability and Reproducibility specifications.

  National Semiconductor

  Research Assistant

  Project involves history and philosophy of imagery in 18th-19th century electrical and magnetic sciences. With Brian Baigrie.

  IHPST

  University of Toronto

  Managing Editor

  Spontaneous Generations is an online academic journal published by graduate students at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

  University of Toronto. The journal aims to establish a platform for interdisciplinary discussion and debate about issues that concern the community of scholars in HPS and related fields.\n\nApart from selecting peer reviewed articles

  the journal encourages a direct dialogue among academics by means of short editorials and focused discussion papers which highlight central questions

  new developments

  and controversial matters affecting HPS.\n\nAs Associate Editor

  I help select themes and invite experts to submit related papers. In addition

  I help write the call for papers

  solicit referees

  and the day-to-day management of the journal. For example

  I review submissions

  send them out for review

  maintain contact with referees and editors

  and work layout design for the finished articles.

  Spontaneous Generations

  University of Toronto

  Semaphore Research Lab

  Faculty of Information

  University of Toronto

  My research concerns the relationship between technology and knowledge and

  in particular

  how technology figures into the process of knowledge production. I study the practices that form at the interface between humans and technologies to see how they work to facilitate or hinder the production of knowledge and I analyze the construction of that interface

  how it is negotiated

  and how it can be improved. I analyse the conceptual

  material

  and procedural products of design in terms of “technological possibilities” for bringing about desired ends and the “practices of trust” that enable users to reliably coordinate material and conceptual resources.\n\nMy current research at Semaphore Lab explores the epistemic dimensions of emerging technologies such as 3D printers

  programmable controllers

  and sensor toolkits. I am also developing an epistemology of the Internet.

  Postdoctoral Research Fellow