Hello. I'm Collin. I am currently Hastings Postdoctoral Scholar in AI and Humanity at Bowdoin College. 

In my role as Hastings Postdoc, I organize and manage programming at Bowdoin College with the aim of enabling students to critically examine, thoughtfully utilize, and ethically shape AI both at the college and in their future careers. 

In my research I articulate and defend a novel account of scientific progress that I call the operative account of progress. According  to this account, the genuinely progressive aspects of scientific practice are those that actively shape our material environment--most notably engineering and other forms of embodied construction--in such a way that our cognitive grasp of reality is expanded and improved. 

Since the completion of my doctoral work, this focus on cognition and engineering, in conjuction with my role at the Hastings Initiative, has led me to concetpual research at the intersection of engineering and philosophy of mind  in artifical intelligence. 

I also work on the history of philosophy of science, especially William Whewell and Rudolf Carnap.

Before academia, I worked as an R&D engineer in reproductive genomics, a pipeline mechanic in the Bakken Oilfield of North Dakota, and a baker at Momofuku Milk Bar.