Graduate Student Directory

Claire Allen
MA Program

callen7@buffalo.edu

Alexander Anderson, BA, MA, Philosophy, Franciscan University of Steubenville
asa22@buffalo.edu
Interests: Philosophy of Science, Political Philosophy, History of Philosophy, and Metaphysics

Michael Behun
MA Program

behun@buffalo.edu

Carter-Beau Benson, BA, University at Buffalo
carterbe@buffalo.edu
Interests: Bioethics and Pluralism

Michael Bortner
MA Program

msbortne@buffalo.edu

Jaron Cheung, BA Public Policy, University of California, Riverside; MTS, Duke University
cheung47@buffalo.edu
Interests: Ethics, Moral Psychology, Metaphysics, Social and Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Education, Philosophy of Race, and American Pragmatism

Giacomo DeColle, BA, Trento’s University, Italy
gdecolle@buffalo.edu
Interests: Complex systems, Philosophy of AI, Applied Ontology

Thomas Dias
MA Program

tjdias@buffalo.edu

Botan Dolun, BSc, University of Florida; MA Bogazici University, Turkey
botandol@buffalo.edu
Interests: Philosophy of Logic, Philosophy of Action, Metaethics

Personal website

Award: Social Impact Fellowship (2023), CAS, University at Buffalo

Federico Donato, BA, Philosophy, State University of Milan, Italy; 
MA, Philosophy, Catholic University of Milan, Italy
fdonato@buffalo.edu
Interests: Metaphysics, Applied Ontology

Emily Heydon, BA, Philosophy and Environmental Sciences, University of Notre Dame
eaheydon@buffalo.edu

Interests: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Biology, Game Theory

Award: Schomburg Fellowship (2023), Graduate School, University at Buffalo

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, University at Buffalo

Matthew Jones, BA, East Stroudsburg University
mjones33@buffalo.edu
Interests: Metaphysical Topics, Time, Traditional Ontology, and Causation

Sean Kermath, BA, Philosophy, University of Michigan, MA, Philosophy, Western Michigan University
seankerm@buffalo.edu
Interests: Political Philosophy, Ethics

Noah Kim, BA, Political Science, University of Maryland; MA, Philosophy, Biola University, La Mirada, CA 
njkim4@buffalo.edu
Interests: Ethics, Political Philosophy, and History of Philosophy

Award: Social Impact Fellowship (2023), CAS, University at Buffalo

Sean Kindya, BA, Philosophy, SUNY Binghamton
skindya@buffalo.edu
Interests: Metaphysics, Logic, Epistemology

Jeremy Knox
MA Program

jeremykn@buffalo.edu

Robert Krieter
MA Program 

Austin Liebers, BA St. Lawrence University
aclieber@buffalo.edu
Interests: Metaphysics, Metaethics, and Aesthetics

Brandon Long, PhD student, BA , Biology MS, and Philosophy MA , Bowling Green State University
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, PhD Student, Philosophy and Applied Ontology
BA, Philosophy, University at Buffalo
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, BA, MA, Franciscan University of Steubenville, MA University at Buffalo
jmerlo@buffalo.edu
Interests: History of Philosophy (Medieval and Modern), Philosophy of Religion

Elena Milivinti
PhD Program

emilivin@buffalo.edu

Emanuel Mora-Moreno, BA Whitman College, MA Yale University, 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)

Andrew Pfeuffer, BA LaRoche College; MA Franciscan University of Steubenville
ajpfeuff@buffalo.edu
Interests: Kant, Rationalism, Modern Philosophy, Bioethics, Ethics, Philosophy of Medicine, and Philosophy of Science

Jisoo Seo,  BA, MA, Philosophy, Yonsei University, Korea
jisooseo@buffalo.edu
Interests: Applied Ontology, Philosophy of Science, Metaphysics

Personal website.

Gloria Sanso, BA and MA in Philosophy, University of Turin, Italy
gsanso@buffalo.edu
Interests: Applied Ontology, Philosophy of Language

Jonathan Vajda, BA, Psychology and Philosophy, Central Michigan University; MA, Religion, Westminster Theological Seminary; MA, Philosophy, Western Michigan
jvajda@buffalo.edu
Interests: Early Modern, Metaphysics, Ethics

Personal website

Vi Vonderhaar, BA, New York University; MA , University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
jvonderh@buffalo.edu
Interests: Political Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy

Finn Wilson, BA Philosophy, D’Youville College
finnwils@buffalo.edu
Interests: Bioethics, Personal Identity, and Early Modern Philosophy

Jieming Yu, LLB, East China University of Political Science and Law; LLM, Georgetown University Law Center; MA, New York University
jiemingy@buffalo.edu
Interests: Ethics, Applied Ethics, Philosophy of Language, Topics in Metaphysics: Vagueness and Modality