Intro

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Duke University, now in my sixth (and final) year. My fields of interest include Political Theory, Political Economy, Political Theology, and Public Policy. In my dissertation, I engage wide ranging debates concerning the methodological foundations of social science, with a particular focus on the nature of ethical convictions and the phenomenon of persuasion. The interests animating my dissertation have also led to a number of side projects, including experimental field work on "trust," a laboratory investigation of interactions between institutions and preferences, and philosophical appraisals of biological-behavioral research, supported in part by my own empirical criticisms of certain claims surfacing in behavioral genomics.

 


 

News

 

 

  • @ APSA presenting my trust paper and enjoying Toronto.

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  • This summer I'm back at VISU for a seminar on "The Culture of Science and Its Philosophy;" and thanks to IHS's Summer Graduate Research Fellowship the rest of the summer is shaping up to be very productive.

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  • I'll be at the Public Choice Society Conference from March 5-8 presenting a paper concerning links between ethics, the constraint of violence, and the formation of markets.

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  • Recently returned from field research in Thailand and Cambodia. It was a very successful trip, mostly due to the organizational efforts of Global Playground. We opened two school sites, and I conducted surveys and experimental economics games with middle school children from rural Cambodia and mountain tribes of Northern Thailand. Also, we visited some foundations doing impressive work, like SSF.

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  • Will be working part time this term on a side project sponsored by the Center for Genomics, Ethics, Law, and Policy examining the limits of behavioral genomics.

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  • I received an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant to run some experimental games. If you would like to help out and make some money, volunteer through this site.

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  • I'll be TAing Evan Charney's course "Ethics and Policy-Making" (PubPol316) this fall semester.

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  • Traveled most of the summer at the following seminars: Lehrman Institute , VISU- Biomedical Sciences , CEU- Religion and Politics .

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    Comments?

    Send them to me at wee(a)duke.edu.