I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Georgia, and a Faculty Fellow at UGA's Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Florida, and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the United States Military Academy, West Point. I received my PhD in 2019 from the University of Toronto, under the supervision of Tom Hurka, Arthur Ripstein, and Julia Nefsky. (You can view my philosophical genealogy tree here.)

My research is mostly in normative and applied ethics. My main interests in this area concern the ethics of killing and harming; special relationships, especially between individuals and institutions that claim a monopoly on the use of force and other harm-related interventions (military, police, physicians); and ethical issues raised by novel technologies. I’m especially drawn to questions where these issues intersect.

In addition to my academic work, I am an organizational ethics consultant with Compass Ethics. I also sit on the Board of Directors for Georgians for End of Life Options (GAELO). For several years, I led ethics training for the U.S. Navy SEALs/Naval Special Warfare's Platoon Leaders Course.

I put out an occasional Substack newsletter called Jerm Theory. You can also find me on BlueSky. (In both venues—in fact, in all venues—I of course speak only for myself and not my employer.)

Outside of philosophy, I am mediocre at the following activities: pottery, chess, guitar, drumming, and making cocktails. 

I have two dogs, Crouton and Television. Television ('Telly') is named that because he likes to watch television; Crouton is named that because he kind of looks like a big crouton. Their breeds, according to the DNA tests, would probably surprise you. They are pictured below—Crouton (L) and Telly (R)—meeting Santa Claus (in the middle).