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::: center home >> news >> 2015-16 monthly bulletins

2015-16 monthly bulletins

August 27, 2015

Call for Posters
Robustness in Neurological Systems
13 - 15 November, 2015

This workshop is designed to maximize productive interaction in large and small groups among scientists and philosophers, faculty, and graduate students.We will include a graduate student poster session. If you would like to present a poster at this workshop, please email Cheryl Greer (cmg84@pitt.edu) with your abstract (c. 500 words) by October 1st. Notice of posters accepted for presentation will be given by October 14th. For more information: http://www.pitt.edu/~pittcntr/Events/All/Conferences/others/other_conf_2015-16/11-13-15_robustness/robustness.html

September 2, 2015

We welcome our new visitors: Francesca Biagioli, Agnes Bolinska, Michel Janssen, Nancy Nersessian, Cailin O'Connor, Michael Stuart, Matthias Unterhuber, and James Weatherall. In the spring term, Leonardo Bich, Carol Cleland, Stephen Inkpen, and Mael Pegny will join us.

Speakers this month are Katie Steele, Nicholas Rescher, Michel Janssen, Agnes Bolinska, Cailin O'Connor, and Michael Stuart. See the calendar for details.

Please join us for:

Effective Theories, Mixed Scale Modeling, and Emergence
2-4 October 2015

Robustness in Neurological Systems
13-15 November 2015
Call for Posters

September 30, 2015

October speakers are

Alex Broadbent, James Weatherall, Nancy Nersessian, Matthias Unterhuber, and Francesca Biagioli. See calendar for more details.

Join us for

Effective Theories, Mixed Scale Modeling, and Emergence
2 - 4 October 2015

Robustness in Neurological Systems
13 - 15 November 2015
Call for Posters

Call For Papers

(Re)Engineering Biology: The Emerging Engineering Paradigm in Biomedical Engineering, Systems Biology, and Synthetic Biology
15 - 16 April 2016

October 15, 2015

The Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh invites applications for Fellowships supporting visits in the Center for a term or an academic year. For details see:

Postdoctoral Fellowship
Visiting Fellowship

The Center is pleased to announce that Anjan Chakravartty will be the Senior Visiting Fellow for the academic year September 2016 - April 2017. We encourage applications for Postdoctoral and Visiting Fellowships from scholars whose research intersects with Professor Chakravartty's.

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We also invite applications for the academic year September 2017 - April 2018 for the position of Senior Visiting Fellow. For details, see:

Senior Visiting Fellowship

November 3, 2015

November speakers are

Heinrich Wansing, Anya Plutynski, and Christopher Frey. See calendar for more details.

Join us for

Robustness in Neurological Systems
13 - 15 November 2015

Outside Color: Perceptual Science and the Puzzle of Color in Philosophy
15 January 2016

Call For Papers

(Re)Engineering Biology: The Emerging Engineering Paradigm in Biomedical Engineering, Systems Biology, and Synthetic Biology
15 - 16 April 2016

Apply for a Center Fellowship
Deadline: Dec. 15, 2015

Director's 2014-15 Annual Review
is now online.

November 16, 2015

(Re)Engineering Biology: The Emerging Engineering Paradigm in Biomedical Engineering, Systems Biology, and Synthetic Biology

15 - 16 April 2016
Center for Philosophy of Science

CALL FOR PAPERS

Engineering models, methods, concepts, technologies and engineers themselves are playing an increasingly prominent role in biological investigation. The new engineering inspired fields such as integrative systems biology, biomedical engineering, and synthetic biology appear to have more in common with engineering approaches than with traditional biological ones. Researchers in these fields typically come from engineering and applied mathematical disciplines or are biomedical engineers trained to understand and build with biological materials. The result has given rise to a complex interplay of different conceptual and methodological frameworks, and interdisciplinary interactions, that have yet to be fully explored by philosophers. A fundamental contribution of the engineering paradigm in modern biology is, arguably, the provision of strategies and tools for managing the complexity of biological organization by transforming it into calculable well-structured forms that facilitate investigation and control and can be subject to engineering analysis.

This workshop aims at characterizing the new engineering paradigm in biology, especially how engineering practices and epistemological perspectives differ with respect to established biological modes of practice and accepted biological epistemology, and at examining the transformative aspects of the concepts, techniques, strategies, and epistemic principles that engineers bring to biological phenomena and how these conflict, contrast, or accord with traditional biological approaches.

Submissions, in the form of an extended abstract of no more than 1000 words, should be made through Easy Chair. Link to the submission site:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rebio2016

Abstracts will be blind-refereed, so please remove identifying material. The deadline for submissions is December 1, 2015. Participants selected for presentation will receive up to 3 nights lodging from the Center. Travel expenses are not covered.

Keynote Speakers

Tarja Knuuttila, Department of Philosophy, University of South Carolina
Eberhard Voit, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute
of Technology and Emory University
William Wimsatt, Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota

Organizing Committee:
Nancy Nersessian (Chair), Harvard University, nancyn@cc.gatech.edu
Sara Green, University of Copenhagen, saraehrenreichgreen@gmail.com
Tarja Knuuttila, University of South Carolina, tarja.knuuttila@helsinki.fi
Andrea Loettgers, University of Geneva, andrea.loettgers@unige.ch
Alan Love, University of Minnesota, aclove@umn.edu
Miles MacLeod, University of Twente, m.a.j.macleod@twente.nl
Michael Stuart, University of Pittsburgh, m.stuart@pitt.edu

Sponsor:
Center for Philosophy of Science

November 18, 2015

Fourth Irvine-Pittsburgh-Princeton Conference on the Mathematical and Conceptual Foundation of Physics (IPP4)

31 March - 1 April 2016
Center for Philosophy of Science

CALL FOR PAPERS

Keynote address: Lena Zuchowski (University of Salzburg), "On the Faithfulness of Chaotic Models"

Over the past decades, philosophers of physics and others have made important contributions to the mathematical and conceptual foundations of physical theories by critically analyzing how the mathematical structures of such theories inform central philosophical concerns, and in some cases by proving new theorems of high philosophical interest. This conference, the fourth in a series, aims to bring together physicists, mathematicians, and philosophers of physics working on such technical issues. The event will immediately precede a workshop on "Field Theories" taking place on April 1-3, 2016.

Speakers for the workshop will include Dave Baker (Michigan), Eleanor Knox (London), John D. Norton (Pittsburgh), Laura Ruetsche (Michigan), Bob Wald (Chicago), and Jim Weatherall (Irvine). Papers by younger researchers, especially graduate students and post-doctoral scholars, are particularly encouraged and will be given priority. Papers of no longer than 5000 words should be submitted via EasyChair (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ipp2016) by January 1, 2016. Decisions will be communicated in early February, at the latest.

Organizing committee:
Nora Boyd (University of Pittsburgh)
Hans Halvorson (Princeton)
John D. Norton (University of Pittsburgh)
Giovanni Valente (University of Pittsburgh)
Jim Weatherall (UC Irvine)

Sponsor:
Center for Philosophy of Science

December 2015

December speakers are Matthias Unterhuber and Gunter Wagner. See calendar for more details.

Join us for

Outside Color: Perceptual Science and the Puzzle of Color in Philosophy
15 January 2016

Call for Papers

Fourth Irvine-Pittsburgh-Princeton Conference on the Mathematical and Conceptual Foundations of Physics (IPP4)
31 March - 1 April 2016

(Re)Engineering Biology: The Emerging Engineering Paridigm in Biomedical Engineering, Systems Biology, and Synthetic Biology
15 - 16 April 2016

Apply for a Center Fellowship
Deadline: December 15, 2015
We have three types of Fellowships available:

Visiting Fellowship (for 2016-2017)
Postdoc Fellowship (for 2016-2017)
Senior Visiting Fellowship (for 2017-2018)

January 5, 2016

January speakers are Nicholas Rescher, Andrew Inkpen, Carol Cleland, and Daniel Warren. See calendar for more details.

Join us for

Outside Color: Perceptual Science and the Puzzle of Color in Philosophy
15 January 2016

Fourth Irvine-Pittsburgh-Princeton Conference on the Mathematical and Conceptual Foundations of Physics (IPP4)
31 March - 1 April 2016

(Re)Engineering Biology: The Emerging Engineering Paridigm in Biomedical Engineering, Systems Biology, and Synthetic Biology
15 - 16 April 2016

January 19, 2016

Reductionism and Integration, Bioethics and Behavior:
A Conference Celebrating the Career of Kenneth F. Schaffner

23-24 September 2016
Center for Philosophy of Science
817 Cathedral of Learning
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA USA

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Kenneth F. Schaffner's 50-year career spans the origin, rise, and institutionalization of modern philosophy of biology. From research on reductionism and explanation in genetics and immunology to work on competence and consent in psychiatry and medicine, he shaped the subject matter of philosophy of biology as the field evolved from a small niche investigated by a few to a broad area of specialization practiced by thousands of international scholars. The aims of this conference are to invite scholars in philosophy of biology and medicine to reflect on and engage with Schaffner's contributions to the field, and to intellectually engage his forthcoming book, Behaving: What's Genetic, What's Not, and Why Should We Care? (Oxford University Press, available April 2016).

The conference will include keynote speakers; a roundtable on Behaving; and presented papers by junior scholars with responses from senior scholars. Junior scholars (graduates and postgraduates who have completed their PhDs within the past 6 years) are invited to submit abstracts of 750 words for presentations on any topic of relevance to the theme. Topics include, but are not limited to, reduction, emergence, explanation and discovery in the biomedical sciences; biomedical ethics; and philosophy of genetics. Submissions need not directly engage with Schaffner's work, so long as they are thematically appropriate. We will be able to provide accommodation and some travel support for speakers.

The deadline for abstracts is March 1, 2016. Please submit abstracts via EasyChair.

Keynote Speakers:
Lindley Darden (University of Maryland)
Helen Longino (Stanford University)
Erik Parens (The Hastings Center)

Program Co-Chairs:
Thomas Cunningham (University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences)
Kathryn Tabb (Columbia University)
James Tabery (University of Utah)

Organizing Committee
Jim Bogen (University of Pittsburgh)
David Colaco (University of Pittsburgh)
Peter Machamer (University of Pittsburgh)
Sandra Mitchell (University of Pittsburgh)
Lauren Ross (University of Pittsburgh)

We would like to emphasize that while we can accommodate only a limited number of contributors to give papers, we welcome anyone who would like to join us in celebrating Ken to attend. Please email us at kenfest2016@gmail.com if you have any questions or would like to be kept up-to-date on the event.

February 2, 2016

February speakers are Mael Pegny, Leonardo Bich, Chris Smeenk, Matthias Unterhuber, Wayne Christensen, and Wayne Wu. See calendar for more details.

Join us for

Fourth Irvine-Pittsburgh-Princeton Conference on the Mathematical and Conceptual Foundations of Physics (IPP4)
31 March - 1 April 2016

(Re)Engineering Biology: The Emerging Engineering Paridigm in Biomedical Engineering, Systems Biology, and Synthetic Biology
15 - 16 April 2016

Call for abstracts

Reductionism and Integration, Bioethics and Behavior: A Conference Celebrating the Career of Kenneth F. Schaffner
23 - 24 September 2016

March 2, 2016

March speakers are Josh Bongard, John D. Norton, and Carsten Held. See calendar for more details.

Join us for

Fourth Irvine-Pittsburgh-Princeton Conference on the Mathematical and Conceptual Foundations of Physics (IPP4)
31 March - 1 April 2016

Field Theories
1 - 2 April 2016

(Re)Engineering Biology: The Emerging Engineering Paridigm in Biomedical Engineering, Systems Biology, and Synthetic Biology
15 - 16 April 2016

Call for abstracts