Graduate Students

MA Program

Ritam Chakraborty entered the MA program in fall 2021, after completing a BA in philosophy and a postgraduate diploma with an advanced major in philosophy, both at Ashoka University, India. His specific areas of interest in philosophy are normative ethics, metaethics, and logic. Besides, he also takes interest in social and political philosophy, philosophy of mathematics, and Indian philosophy.

Supervisor (interim): Dr. Lisa Shapiro
Email: ritam_chakraborty at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4617

Eddie Cai entered the MA program in fall 2020. His primary interests at the moment are in logic and the philosophy of language. Some topics of interest include truthmaker semantics (subject matter, partial content), truth, propositions, and first order model theory.

Supervisor: Dr. Tom Donaldson  
Email:  eddie_cai at sfu.ca
Office: WMC 4623

Iman Ferestade entered the MA program in fall 2020. He is a Ph.D. graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology. He has also been a visiting scholar at Virginia Tech university. His research interests are Philosophy of physics (classical mechanics), philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of science. 

Supervisor Dr. Nic Fillion
Email: iman_ferestade at sfu.ca
Office: WMC 4621

Mete Han Gencer entered the MA program in fall 2020 after majoring in philosophy and minoring in psychology at Bilkent University. His current interests are shaped by the questions of why people do what they do, and whether their reasons are justifiable by any means. These often lead him to explore more of the philosophy of action and metaethics. He also enjoys learning and thinking about long-standing and complex sources of motivation, such as power, religion, and social justice.

Supervisor: Dr. Bruno Guindon
Email: mete_gencer at sfu.ca
Office: WMC 4609

Chang Han entered the MA program in fall 2020. She graduated from Nanjing University in China with a Bachelor's Degree of Philosophy. She is currently interested in questions in ethics, political philosophy and epistemology.

Supervisor:  Dr. Alex King
Email: cha157 at sfu.ca
Office: WMC 4609

Curtis Hrusik entered the MA program in fall 2020. His interests are broad; currently his focal interests are in the philosophy of language.

Supervisor:  Dr. Tom Donaldson
Email:  curtis_hrusik at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4611

Yanjie Ding entered the MA program in fall 2021. He graduated from Shandong University with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. He is currently interested in metaethics and moral psychology. He also takes interest in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of cognitive science, and philosophy of action, so as to better understand how people think and act morally.

Supervisor: Dr. Nicolas Bommarito
Email: yanjie_ding at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4615

Shivanshu Mishra entered the MA program in fall 2021.

Supervisor: Dr. Dai Heide
Email: sma270 at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4607

Jacob Schwartz entered the MA program in fall 2021. He graduated with a BA in Computer Science from Vassar College in 2019. He is primarily interested in normative ethics and epistemology. He also has interests in decision theory, social and political philosophy, bioethics, and Buddhist philosophy.

Supervisor (interim): Dr. Thomas Donaldson
Email: jhs17 at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4609

Tiange (Eileen) Wang entered the MA program in fall 2021, after completing a double major in Computer Science and Humanities (Philosophy) at New York University Shanghai. She is interested in metaethics, normative ethics, and logic.

Supervisor:  Dr. Alex King
Email: twa137 at sfu.ca 
Office:  WMC 4607

Safa Ahmadian entered the MA program in fall 2022.

Supervisor (interim):  Dr. Endre Begby
Email: 
ssa535 at sfu.ca
Office: 
WMC 4613

Branch Archer entered the MA program in fall 2022.  He has a BA in Plan II Honors and a BS in environmental engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He has interests in existentialism, environmental ethics, and free will but is eager to broaden his philosophical horizons at SFU.

Supervisor (interim): Dr. Sam Black
Email:  bta72 at sfu.ca
Office: WMC 4616

Zoe Edelson entered the MA program in fall 2022.

Supervisor (interim):  Dr. Chelsea Rosenthal
Email:  zea4 at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4613

Celia Gentle entered the MA program in fall 2022 after getting a degree in Cognitive Systems from the University of British Columbia. Her philosophical interests broadly include epistemology, philosophy for children (P4C), and the philosophy of hope. 

Supervisor (interim):  Dr. Tom Donaldson
Email:  cmg15 at sfu.ca
Office: WMC 4621

Naila Jubara entered the MA program in fall 2022 with a BA in philosophy from the University of Minnesota. She has broad interests but focuses on social and political philosophy, social metaphysics, and ethics. She's increasingly interested in epistemological topics as well, including social epistemology and philosophy of science.

Supervisor (interim):  Dr. Nicolas Fillion
Email:  naila_jubara at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4611

  I. Bugra Sagsen entered the MA program in fall 2022 after completing their BA in philosophy at Middle East Technical University in Turkey. They are interested in philosophy of mind, cognitive science and epistemology. Currently their focuses are action/agency, temporality and experience. They also enjoy learning and talking about phenomenology, queer theory and postcolonial theory.

Supervisor (interim):  Dr. Bruno Guindon
Email:  sbs5 at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4616

Reetika Kalita entered the MA program in Fall 2021. She has a BA in History from Delhi University, and an MA in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Philosophy from Ashoka University, India. Her interests lie primarily in metaphysics and philosophy of mind and, in particular, their relationship to logic and normativity. She is also interested in political theory, and spends time thinking, especially, about issues in feminist philosophy and Marxism.

Supervisor:  Dr. Kathleen Akins
Email:  rka102 at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4621

Sherif Salem entered the MA program in fall 2020. He holds an MSc. in Economics from Queen Mary University of London, and an MA in Philosophy from the American University in Cairo. He is interested in epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of science, philosophy of logic/mathematics, metaphilosophy, history of analytic philosophy, and non-western philosophical traditions (particularly, Islamic philosophy and African philosophy). He is also the co-founder of the Middle East Society for Analytic Philosophy

Supervisor:  Dr. Jennifer Wang
Email: sherif_salem at sfu.ca
Office: WMC 

Mary Purcell entered the MA program in fall 2021, after completing a BA in English and philosophy at the University of Scranton. She is primarily interested in metaphysics, political philosophy, and ethics. 

Supervisor:  Dr. Lisa Shapiro
Office:  WMC 4615

Winston Meier entered the MA program in fall 2021. His current interests are in philosophy of mind, particularly in issues concerning reductivism, perception and prediction. He's also generally interested in social and political philosophy.   

Supervisor: Dr. Holly Andersen
Email: wma28 at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4607

Chrysogonus Okwenna entered the MA program in fall 2021. He completed his BA in Philosophy from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. At the moment, he is more broadly interested in the intersection between African philosophy, ethics, epistemology and the associated areas of philosophy of medicine and bioethics. He is particularly interested in the ethical-epistemic issues in medicine, science and society. In addition, he approaches these issues from an African perspective.

Supervisor: Dr. Chelsea Rosenthal
Email: cmo4 at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4611

Abhi Ruparelia entered the MA program in fall 2021, following a BA in philosophy and leadership studies at the University of Richmond, Virginia. He is primarily interested in meta-ethics, legal and political philosophy, and ancient philosophy. He also has secondary interests in logic, philosophy of mathematics, and Buddhist philosophy.


Supervisor: 
Dr. Bruno Guindon
Email: abhi_ruparelia at sfu.ca
Office:  

Elliot Schwartz entered the MA program in fall 2021 after completing his BA in philosophy and cognitive science at Carleton College. Currently, his main areas of focus are epistemology, language, and logic. He is also interested in cognitive science, linguistics, and philosophy pertaining to these fields.

Supervisor: Dr. Holly Andersen
Email: egs4 at sfu.ca
Office:  

Junyi Guo entered the MA program in fall 2021, following an MSc in Political Theory from LSE, UK and a BA in Politic and Public Administration from SYSU, China. While studying political philosophy, she was interested in what political freedom is, and how we can achieve political freedom through political action and political judgement. Now, she is opening her eyes to broad areas in philosophy. Currently, she has a great interest in how human beings understand themselves and the world. And starting from that, what moral, social and political implications are in different theories of understanding.

Supervisor: Dr. Nicolas Bommarito
Email: jga153 at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4616

Yangyang Wang entered the MA program in fall 2021. Her interests are broad. Initially she was fascinated by Ancient Greek philosophy and spent most of her effort studying Plato and Aristotle’s metaphysics. Later she developed more interests in contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of language. Currently she wants to explore more on logic, feminist philosophy, philosophy of technology and social epistemology.

Supervisor:  Dr. Jennifer Wang
Email:  ywa389 at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4617

Grace Shaw entered the MA program in fall 2022 after completing her BA in Cognitive Systems from the University of British Columbia with a minor in philosophy. She is interested in philosophy of mind, social justice, and speculative fiction.

Supervisor(intreim):  Dr. Nic Bommarito
Email:  gashaw at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4615

Nayancee Shrivastava entered the MA program in fall 2022.

Supervisor (interim):  Dr. Dai Heide
Email:  nsa149 at sfu.ca
Office:WMC 4617

Gavin Victor entered the MA program in fall 2022.  Prior to entering the program, he graduated from Whitman College with a bachelor's in philosophy. His main areas of interest are aesthetics and philosophy of mind. In aesthetics, he is interested in aesthetic value, representation, and broadly the nature of aesthetic experience. In philosophy of mind, he is interested in cognition, imagination, and perception. He is also interested in environmental ethics, environmental humanities, and philosophy of technology. 

Supervisor (interim):  Dr. Kino Zhao
Email:  gjv3 at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 

Tessa Whittle entered the MA program in fall 2022 after graduating from the University of Western Ontario with a BA in philosophy. She is currently interested in broad ethical questions, like what 'should we do?' and 'how do we determine what we should do?', and the historical answers and puzzlings over these questions (particularly in the early modern period). At SFU she is hoping to explore these questions, as well as explore the current philosophical tradition more broadly.

Supervisor (interim):  Dr. Alex King
Email:  tmw16 at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4613

Hao Yang entered the MA program in fall 2022 after completing a BA in philosophy at Wuhan University. He is currently interested in metaphysics, philosophy of science, and philosophical logic. He is particularly interested in how to develop a theory of fundamentality and apply it to various metaphysical issues.

Supervisor (interim):  Dr. Kathleen Akins
Email:  hya126 at sfu.ca
Office:  WMC 4621