Graduate Student Directory
Academic Year 2024-2025
The UB Department of Philosophy is pleased to present on this page
the current directory listing of our graduate students.
To update your directory listing, please contact:
Jisoo Seo, GPA President, jisooseo@buffalo.edu
—or—
Donna Smith, Department Administrator, donnaobe@buffalo.edu
Directory Listing of Current Graduate Students
ALPHABETICAL LISTING BY LAST NAME
Updated October 8, 2024
Portrait forthcoming
Claire Allen
MA Program
callen7@buffalo.edu
Portrait forthcoming
Alexander Anderson, BA, MA, Philosophy, Franciscan ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Steubenville
asa22@buffalo.edu
Interests: Philosophy of Science, Political Philosophy, History of Philosophy, and Metaphysics
Portrait forthcoming
Michael Behun
MA Program
behun@buffalo.edu
Carter-Beau Benson
Carter-Beau Benson, BA, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
carterbe@buffalo.edu
Interests: Bioethics and Pluralism
Portrait forthcoming
Michael Bortner
MA Program
msbortne@buffalo.edu
Jaron Cheung
Jaron Cheung, BA Public Policy, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of California, Riverside; MTS, Duke ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
cheung47@buffalo.edu
Interests: Ethics, Moral Psychology, Metaphysics, Social and Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Education, Philosophy of Race, and American Pragmatism
Giacomo DeColle
Giacomo DeColle, BA, Trento’s ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½, Italy
gdecolle@buffalo.edu
Interests: Complex systems, Philosophy of AI, Applied Ontology
Portrait forthcoming
Thomas Dias
MA Program
tjdias@buffalo.edu
Botan Dolun
Botan Dolun, BSc, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Florida; MA Bogazici ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½, Turkey
botandol@buffalo.edu
Interests: Philosophy of Logic, Philosophy of Action, Metaethics
Award: Social Impact Fellowship (2023), CAS, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
Federico Donato
Federico Donato, BA, Philosophy, State ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Milan, Italy;
MA, Philosophy, Catholic ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Milan, Italy
fdonato@buffalo.edu
Interests: Metaphysics, Applied Ontology
Emily Heydon
Emily Heydon, BA, Philosophy and Environmental Sciences, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Notre Dame
eaheydon@buffalo.edu
Interests: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Biology, Game Theory
Award: Schomburg Fellowship (2023), Graduate School, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
Katrina Johnson
Katrina Johnson, BA Philosophy, Politics, Economics, SUNY College at Oswego, Oswego, NY
kejohnso@buffalo.edu
Awards:
Adam Smith Fellowship (2024) Mercatus
Social Impact Fellowship (2023), CAS, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
Matthew Jones
Matthew Jones, BA, East Stroudsburg ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
mjones33@buffalo.edu
Interests: Metaphysical Topics, Time, Traditional Ontology, and Causation
Sean Kermath
Sean Kermath, BA, Philosophy, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Michigan, MA, Philosophy, Western Michigan ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
seankerm@buffalo.edu
Interests: Political Philosophy, Ethics
Noah Kim
Noah Kim, BA, Political Science, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Maryland; MA, Philosophy, Biola ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½, La Mirada, CA
njkim4@buffalo.edu
Interests: Ethics, Political Philosophy, and History of Philosophy
Award: Social Impact Fellowship (2023), CAS, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
Sean Kindya
Sean Kindya, BA, Philosophy, SUNY Binghamton
skindya@buffalo.edu
Interests: Metaphysics, Logic, Epistemology
Portrait forthcoming
Jeremy Knox
MA Program
jeremykn@buffalo.edu
Portrait forthcoming
Robert Krieter
MA Program
Austin Liebers
Austin Liebers, BA St. Lawrence ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
aclieber@buffalo.edu
Interests: Metaphysics, Metaethics, and Aesthetics
Brandon Long
Brandon Long, PhD student, BA , Biology MS, and Philosophy MA , Bowling Green State ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
blong3@buffalo.edu
Interests: Brandon is interested in the intersection of PPE and Bioethics. He explores how deliberative democratic governance can provide valuable insights into the ethics and governance of research and clinical practices.
Jon McLellan
Jon McLellan, PhD Student, Philosophy and Applied Ontology
BA, Philosophy, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
jonmclel@buffalo.edu
Jon serves as the chief executive officer and co-founder of ProseWrite LLC where he leads in development and strategic direction. He has experience in ontology development, data science, and artificial intelligence.
Interests: Ethics, Ethical AI development and Governance.
Joshua Merlo
Joshua Merlo, BA, MA, Franciscan ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Steubenville, MA ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
jmerlo@buffalo.edu
Interests: History of Philosophy (Medieval and Modern), Philosophy of Religion
Elena Milivinti
Elena Milivinti
PhD Program
emilivin@buffalo.edu
Portrait forthcoming
Emanuel Mora-Moreno, BA Whitman College, MA Yale ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½, MDiv/STM Union Theological Seminary
emoramor@buffalo.edu
Interests: History of Philosophy, Ancient (Plato, Aristotle), Early Modern (esp. Spinoza, Hume) Kant, Hegel, American Pragmatism (esp. Neo-Pragmatism)
Portrait forthcoming
Andrew Pfeuffer, BA LaRoche College; MA Franciscan ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Steubenville
ajpfeuff@buffalo.edu
Interests: Kant, Rationalism, Modern Philosophy, Bioethics, Ethics, Philosophy of Medicine, and Philosophy of Science
Jisoo Seo
Jisoo Seo, BA, MA, Philosophy, Yonsei ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½, Korea
jisooseo@buffalo.edu
Interests: Applied Ontology, Philosophy of Science, Metaphysics
Gloria Sanso
Gloria Sanso, BA and MA in Philosophy, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Turin, Italy
gsanso@buffalo.edu
Interests: Applied Ontology, Philosophy of Language
Jonathan Vajda
Jonathan Vajda, BA, Psychology and Philosophy, Central Michigan ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½; MA, Religion, Westminster Theological Seminary; MA, Philosophy, Western Michigan
jvajda@buffalo.edu
Interests: Early Modern, Metaphysics, Ethics
Portrait forthcoming
Vi Vonderhaar, BA, New York ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½; MA , ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
jvonderh@buffalo.edu
Interests: Political Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
Finn Wilson
Finn Wilson, BA Philosophy, D’Youville College
finnwils@buffalo.edu
Interests: Bioethics, Personal Identity, and Early Modern Philosophy
Jieming Yu
Jieming Yu, LLB, East China ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Political Science and Law; LLM, Georgetown ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ Law Center; MA, New York ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½
jiemingy@buffalo.edu
Interests: Ethics, Applied Ethics, Philosophy of Language, Topics in Metaphysics: Vagueness and Modality