Stephen Perry
(he/they)
(he/they)
My name is Stephen Perry (he/they), and I am currently a queer graduate student in the University of Pittsburgh Philosophy PhD program. I got my BS/BA in Philosophy and Mathematics from the University of Kentucky in Spring 2021 and started at Pitt that fall!
I am currently working on my dissertation, tentatively titled "Untitled" and focused on what I call "description-fitting," a practice that I argue characterizes the heart of applying mathematics. My interest is broadly in reconceptualizing the "philosophy of applied mathematics" through careful attention to how this practice plays out in various cases of applying mathematics, from topological combinatorics to fluid mechanics.
More specifically, focusing on this "description-fitting" practice as I understand it directs our attention towards the broadly epistemic moves made by practitioners, moves aimed at gaining tractability through bringing tool and problem closer to one another.
(Pictured: me before leaving Kentucky to go to Grad School aka the Happy Days)
Outside of this work for my dissertation, I also have academic interests ranging from issues of modeling and representing in the sciences, feminist and queer critiques of the sciences, more general feminist and queer theory & history, francophone African philosophy and decolonial theory, various forms of pragmatism, and of course whatever happens to catch my eye as I browse library bookshelves, department walls, or online databases.
Outside of academics, I absolutely love spending time in nature as well as engaging in a variety of creative projects, from crocheting to baking to to painting to fish-keeping. I am a religious Pokemon player; I started with Pokemon Diamond and have been hooked ever since (Umbreon, Bulbasaur, and Suicune are the best, no I will not be taking constructive criticism on this). And I am a 24/7 listener to music, mostly (perhaps aligning a bit with the stereotype) musicals and pop, though some rock and folk music as well, all both in English and in French (French musicals are some of my favorites actually!).
As a queer person, I try to involve myself in the surging intersectional queer liberation movement, and would love to talk about it with anyone who knows more, less, or is similarly involved. It would be great to get involved with and/or build a network of people, especially in academia, devoted to doing this sort of work alongside (and sometimes infused in) research. I try to, when appropriate, infuse my work with my intersectional politics and practice social justice where I can.