Philosophy faculty will present work at University of Neuchâtel

Dr. Scott Hill, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Philosophy in the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will present his paper, “Against Strawsonian Motivations for AI Explainability,” to the University of Neuchâtel in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, Oct. 1.

Abstract:

“Consider The Explainability Thesis according to which the use of transparent AI to make high stakes decisions is to be strongly preferred to the use of opaque AI. Most AI ethicists agree that the Explainability Thesis is true. But there is disagreement about how to motivate it. Some philosophers argue that the explainability thesis is true because the use of opaque AI would require failing to regard a person from the Strawsonian participant stance. I argue that this is mistaken. I then present my own motivation for the thesis. In particular, the use of opaque AI is risky and has bad consequences. It is for this reason that transparent AI is to be preferred to opaque AI.”

A graph showing the number of publication by faculty in the Department of Mathematics and Science. The graph shows 20 publications in 1998, moving to close to 30 in the mid 2000s before dropping in the late 2010s and rising in the early 2020s, hitting a peak of over 30 publications a year in 2023, the first time in 25 years.

Mathematics and statistics faculty see record high research publications within the last 25 years

Faculty in mathematics and statistics authored a record number of research publications within the department’s last 25 years in 2023. The average number of individual publications by each faculty member has also seen record highs, approaching two research publications a year per faculty member.

These developments highlight the extraordinary efforts by the faculty to heighten the collective scientific understanding of mathematics and statistics and to propel Wichita State as a leading research institution.

Geology students pose for a photo with the ocean in the background.

Geology students present research at national conference

Four Wichita State students presented their research at the National Geological Society of America meeting Sept. 22-25 in Anaheim, California.

  • Mitch Baker, graduate student in earth, environmental and physical science
  • Jack Dalton, graduate student in earth, environmental and physical science
  • Ricky Nichols, senior in geology and secondary education in earth and space science
  • Makenna Roths, senior in geology and honors baccalaureate

The students were accompanied by faculty researchers Dr. Will Parcell, chair and associate professor of geology, and Julia Schwartz, assistant educator in geology.

The group presented the following publications (* indicates student):

  • Parcell, W., Baker, M.*, Dalton, J*., Nichols, J*., Schwartz, J., 2024, Influence of paleotopography and active basement structures on depositional patterns, Middle to Late Jurassic, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 54.
  • Schwartz, J., Baker, M.*, Dalton, J*., Nichols, J*., Parcell, W., 2024, Stratigraphic analysis of the cretaceous eagle coal in Elk Basin Wyoming with XRD and XRF. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 54.
  • Roths, M.*, Parcell, 2024, Analysis of geoscience education techniques within the National Park Service. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 54.
  • Nichols, J*., Parcell, Schwartz, J., 2024, The search for rare earth elements (REES) in lignite coal seams with X-ray diffraction (XRD): A case study from the Cretaceous Eagle Formation, Elk Basin, Park County, Wyoming, USA. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 54.
  • Dalton, J*., Baker, M.*, Nichols, J*., Parcell, W., Schwartz, J., 2024, Stratigraphic significance of a bentonite unit in the upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, northeastern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 54.
  • Baker, M.*, Parcell, W., 2024, Convergent philosophies: using geology and biology to describe microbialite paleoenvironments. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 54. 
  • Baker, M.*, Dalton, J*., Nichols, J*., Parcell, W., Schwartz, J., 2024, Microbialite mystery: characterizing development of microbialites in the Jurassic strata of Wyoming. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 54.

Philosophy faculty argues against criticisms of procreation

Dr. Scott Hill, associate teaching professor in the Department of Philosophy of Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, recently published a critique of common objections to the act of procreation. The paper, titled “Against Adoption-Based Objections to Procreation,” looks at adoption- and climate change-based arguments against procreation and the pitfalls of such arguments.

The paper was published in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly. Dr. Hill joined Wichita State’s philosophy faculty this fall, and his research primarily focuses on ethics and religion.