Faculty Research in Australia

(Faculty members are listed alphabetically)

Kutach, Douglas- Philosophy

http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1130161540&r=1

My primary research work is in philosophy of science, philosophy of physics, and metaphysics as informed by physics. I am currently engaged in two research programs. The first is an examination of some traditional metaphysical issues, using contemporary physics to give a scientific explanation for why it profits us to use our particular folk concepts (or their philosophical refinements). Causation is one of the many important concepts that has been resistant to successful analysis, and I believe that a few conspicuous physical facts can explain why causation has previously defied all attempts at reduction. In brief, this difficulty arises because causation is a conglomeration of several incompatible principles that operate at different levels of conceptualization (i.e. the microscopic level of fundamental physics and the macroscopic level of ordinary objects and events). Our folksy use of causal concepts simplifies reality by mixing up these levels of description. What I show, however, is that this simplification is, at a deep level, unjustifiable, so that the widespread failure of causation theories is no surprise. Nevertheless, the simplification of the world into "causes" and "effects" gives us a useful folk physics for use in many simple cases of physical interaction, so that it turns out to be pragmatically rational that we meld together the conflicting principles comprising causation. That is, even though causation doesn't really make sense, the physics of our world typically rewards people who guide their action by using various principles associated with causation, principles like, "You can't affect the past." I am currently working to extend this project by using my deflationary account of causation to clarify the concept of a decision, especially the conflicting intuitions in the debate between evidential decision theory and causal decision theory.

The second research project is a clarification of the concepts of time, space, and matter as they are used in classical and contemporary physics by way of geometry. This investigation grew out of an interest I've had in explaining a special time-asymmetry seen in a rare set of particle decay processes, (specifically involving neutral kaons and B particles). Ever since this asymmetry was discovered back in 1964, philosophers have universally set it aside, not knowing what to say about it. My work is an attempt to figure out a way to think about its implications. My primary working hypothesis is that --just as relativity unified our concepts of space and time-- this asymmetry suggests that the next unification of physics ought to involve unifying (electrical) charge with spacetime. This means that, in some sense, the distinction between electrical phenomena and matter/anti-matter is entirely geometric. Although when stated this crudely, my hypothesis is not a totally new idea, I nevertheless have in mind a specific interpretation that has been broadly overlooked. In addition to the part of this research that is directed at clarifying physical concepts, this project engages some more general philosophical issues. For example, in one paper I show how both classical and relativistic physics can be imbedded in a more general theory. This has implications for theoretical reduction because it gives a clean example of how one thorny problem of reduction, e.g. how to understand one theory as a limiting case of another, might be circumvented.

Hogan, Dennis- Sociology

http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1106970260

Dennis Hogan received his PhD degree in sociology with a specialization in demography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1976. Following faculty appointments at University of Chicago and Penn State University, he joined the Brown faculty in 1995 as professor of sociology and Robert E. Turner Distinguished Professor of Population Studies. He has been director of the Population Research Institute at Penn State University and of the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University. During his tenure at director of the two centers he obtained eight support grants from the National Institutes of Health, Packard Foundation, Compton Foundation and Mellon Foundation, totaling $6.1 million. He has had 27 research grants from NIH, NSF, and private foundation for a total of $7.3 million.

Dennis Hogan has published two books: Transitions and Social Change: The Early Lives of American Men. New York: Academic Press, 1981; Family, Political Economy, and Demographic Change: The Transformation of Life in Casalecchio, Italy, 1861-1921. David I. Kertzer and Dennis P. Hogan. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989. He has published 57 refereed journal articles and 26 chapters in books. He current is work on two books: Population Dynamics in a Society in Crisis: The Resilient Families of Ethiopia. David P. Lindstrom and Dennis P. Hogan (eds). Lampeter, Wales: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2006; and The Family Consequences of Child Disability. Dennis P. Hogan and Frances K. Goldscheider. Los Angeles: University of California Press, (publication expected 2007).

Dennis Hogan received his PhD degree in sociology with a specialization in demography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1976. Following faculty appointments at University of Chicago and Penn State University, he joined the Brown faculty in 1995 as professor of sociology and Robert E. Turner Distinguished Professor of Population Studies. He has been director of the Population Research Institute at Penn State University and of the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University. During his tenure at director of the two centers he obtained eight support grants from the National Institutes of Health, Packard Foundation, Compton Foundation and Mellon Foundation, totaling $6.1 million. He has had 27 research grants from NIH, NSF, and private foundation for a total of $7.3 million.

Dennis Hogan has published two books: Transitions and Social Change: The Early Lives of American Men. New York: Academic Press, 1981; Family, Political Economy, and Demographic Change: The Transformation of Life in Casalecchio, Italy, 1861-1921. David I. Kertzer and Dennis P. Hogan. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989. He has published 57 refereed journal articles and 26 chapters in books. He current is work on two books: Population Dynamics in a Society in Crisis: The Resilient Families of Ethiopia. David P. Lindstrom and Dennis P. Hogan (eds). Lampeter, Wales: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2006; and The Family Consequences of Child Disability. Dennis P. Hogan and Frances K. Goldscheider. Los Angeles: University of California Press, (publication expected 2007).

Dennis Hogan received his PhD degree in sociology with a specialization in demography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1976. Following faculty appointments at University of Chicago and Penn State University, he joined the Brown faculty in 1995 as professor of sociology and Robert E. Turner Distinguished Professor of Population Studies. He has been director of the Population Research Institute at Penn State University and of the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University. During his tenure at director of the two centers he obtained eight support grants from the National Institutes of Health, Packard Foundation, Compton Foundation and Mellon Foundation, totaling $6.1 million. He has had 27 research grants from NIH, NSF, and private foundation for a total of $7.3 million.

Dennis Hogan has published two books: Transitions and Social Change: The Early Lives of American Men. New York: Academic Press, 1981; Family, Political Economy, and Demographic Change: The Transformation of Life in Casalecchio, Italy, 1861-1921. David I. Kertzer and Dennis P. Hogan. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989. He has published 57 refereed journal articles and 26 chapters in books. He current is work on two books: Population Dynamics in a Society in Crisis: The Resilient Families of Ethiopia. David P. Lindstrom and Dennis P. Hogan (eds). Lampeter, Wales: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2006; and The Family Consequences of Child Disability. Dennis P. Hogan and Frances K. Goldscheider. Los Angeles: University of California Press, (publication expected 2007).

Quian, Nancy- Economics

http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1130161820&r=1

By using empirical economic methods on real-world data, Nancy Qian's research seeks to establish the determinants of economic development at the individual, household and community levels. She is particularly interested in examining the role of economic incentives in phenomena conventionally thought of as "social" or "cultural." Among many other projects, she is currently studying the long run health and economic impacts of childhood exposure to famine on survivors, and the impact of grassroots democracy on the provision of public goods.

Brink-Danan, Marcy- Anthropology

http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1154700331

Trained as a cultural anthropologist (Ph.D., Stanford University 2005), I study the role of language and symbolism in the formation and maintenance of social groups, communities and nations. I most recently conducted ethnographic research with the Jewish community of Turkey, where I focused on issues of multilingualism, intimacy and ideology. The methodological approaches I use to examine cultural phenomena borrow from socio-cultural approaches to the present (participant observation and interviews) and an historical approach to things past (text and image analysis). I reckon with the problem of ideology by drawing upon theories developed in anthropology, semiotics, history and literary criticism, thereby introducing critical perspectives to Jewish culture and folklore studies.

Richardson, Peter Damian- Engineering and Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology

http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1100925009

Professor Richardson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1986, and was awarded the Jung Prize in Medicine in 1987. He was a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Prize in 1976. He is a Founding Fellow of the American Institute for medical and Biological Engineering, A Fellow of the City & Guilds of London Institute, and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Inaugural Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, Member of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs, American Society for Engineering Education, Honorary Member of the British Atherosclerosis Society, and other professional societies. He has authored a book (with M. Steiner) entitled, "Principles of Cell Adhesion" (CRC Press, 1995). An alumnus of the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine of the University of London, he was appointed Professor of Engineering and Physiology in 1984.

Sala, Osvaldo- Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1100925750

Osvaldo Sala is the Sloan Lindemann Professor of Biology at Brown University. As president of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment and a coordinating lead author of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Sala is an international leader in ecological science and global environmental policy.

Sala has explored several topics throughout his career from water controls on carbon and nitrogen dynamics in arid and semi-arid ecosystems to the consequences of changes in biodiversity on the functioning of ecosystems, including the development of biodiversity scenarios for the next 50 years. He is particularly interested in working with scenarios as a way of simplifying, understanding, and communicating the complex relationships that emerge from the study of social-ecological systems. His research employs direct observations, manipulative field experiments, and simulation modeling. Field sites include the Patagonian steppe, annual grasslands of California, steppes of Colorado and the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico.

His research on arid ecosystems has taken him to the Patagonian steppe, annual grasslands of California, steppes of Colorado, the deserts of Southern Africa, and the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico.

Sala has served as editor of Global Change Biology and the president of the Argentinean Society of Ecology. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts