Research

Most of my research is on philosophy of physics, driven and informed by questions from history of science and (feminist) philosophy of science more broadly, as well as theoretical and mathematical physics.

My main research area and the central question of my dissertation is: The quantum field theories (QFTs) underpinning our current framework of particle physics are celebrated as some of the most accurate theories in human history. But they’ve faced significant challenges throughout their history. Their consistency has been questioned, their most powerful predictive techniques were once considered ad hoc, and their mathematical backbone is still seen as unrigorous. Why are QFTs so successful, then? See the bottom of my CV for the most recent summary of my project so far!

My secondary research area within the philosophy of physics focuses on how the mathematical structures of quantum theories codify their physical content and explores more appropriate ways of doing so. You can find my papers in this area here.

Aside from philosophy and the history of physics, I've worked on:

• Early Greek science, particularly that practiced by the Presocratics and Hippocratic doctors. I’ve published a book chapter surveying early Greek science and its traces on Aristophanes’ Clouds, titled “El ‘Sócrates presocrático’ de Las Nubes de Aristófanes” [The ‘Presocratic Socrates’ of Aristophanes’ Clouds], as a commentary essay to a translation I did with my undergraduate Greek translation group back in Colombia.

• Inclusive pedagogies in and for philosophy, primarily in courses considered “technical” (e.g., formal methods, logic, and philosophy of physics). Thomas Colclough, Helen Meskhidze, and I designed and ran a study in two formal logic courses where we implemented interventions informed by inclusive pedagogies. Our paper, “Feminist and Trauma-Informed Approaches to Teaching Formal Philosophy,” is forthcoming in Hypatia. See also our “Changing the Way We Teach Formal Philosophy” for a summary of the project in the Women in Philosophy Series of the APA blog.