Paige is a 3rd year PhD聽student studying Philosophy. Her research focuses on epistemology and ethics;聽for example, rational belief and how to do good effectively.聽Paige was recently awarded a Collegiality and Scholarship聽Award based on her contributions to the research or creative community. We asked Paige a few questions to learn more about her as a scholar and get to know her better. Read more below!
What is a useful research or creative skill you think everyone should have?
One useful research skill (broadly construed) is learning how to ask for things, and, in some cases, insisting on them. I mean by this that graduate students should be proactive in accessing the resources they need to succeed as beginning scholars. Graduate school can be wonderful or horrible, and early career researchers shouldn't be bystanders to their own development. Ask for feedback from colleagues, ask for feedback from professors and advisors, ask for time, ask for mentorship, ask for conference funding, insist on accountability for harassment, insist on kindness from those in our community, etc. More broadly, we need to destigmatize asking for help.
Why is your research or creative work important to the community or world at large?
A core part of epistemology is concerned with rational belief, which is relevant to every field of inquiry. Some questions I've recently been interested in include whether practical reasons are commensurable with evidential reasons, when to defer to the testimony of others when you don't have access to their reasons, how to respond to putative cases of underdetermination of theory by evidence, whether we should prioritize explainability over predictability in AI, and more. In ethics, I'm interested in effective altruism, which is a philosophical and social movement to figure out how to do the most good possible and then put those findings into practice. This movement has already made a huge impact on the world and I'm eager for students at CU to reflect on how they can arc their studies and vocations to find that intersection between what they want and what the world needs.
What does an ideal research or creative community look like to you?
An ideal research community would be just that鈥攁 community! In graduate school, there is often implicit or explicit pressure to stand out. I've heard this referred as the desire to be the wizard among the muggles. But, this sort of competitive environment is alienating and can drive up attrition rates, especially for students from underrepresented backgrounds who may already struggle to belong. Research benefits tremendously from a collegial work environment where people can let go of trying to appear clever and instead share ideas earnestly. We also need to give feedback in a way that is constructive, rather than demoralizing. Some professors make excuses that the sort of gratuitously harsh feedback they give is what they received in graduate school or what we should expect when we begin publishing, but this upholds the status quo of toxic graduate school climates. We need to integrate being kind with being critical.
Tell us a fun fact about you that is not related to your research or academics.
I once befriended a nun in Israel and spent two weeks in her convent before going on to Paris, where I (very) informally started DJing for several weeks after the owner invited me to plug my iPod into his bar's sound system my first night there. Once at 3am, a drunk Parisian lady asked to give the DJ a hug to thank me for the music. I'm really shy, so it was one of these incredible experiences one can only have when traveling.
What is a good book you have read recently and why did you enjoy it?
This is a two-for-one: I recommend both Migrations and Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy. Both novels take place in an unspecified future where we've driven many animals to extinction. The environmental crises are a mirror to the main characters' traumas, and the unreliable narrators make the plot mysterious and fast-paced. Both these books are devastating, but, ultimately, redemptive. They're an homage to nature, humanity, and the resilience of each.
If you could have dinner with anyone (living or dead), who would it be and why?
I've said this in another interview, but it's still true: Raphael Lemkin. He coined the term "genocide" and spent his life tirelessly trying to prevent the worst parts of history from repeating themselves, so much so that he died worn out and impoverished. His indefatigable efforts are both humbling and inspiring.