Garrett Mindt, Ph.D., researches philosophy of the mind, philosophy and science of consciousness, philosophy of artificial intelligence (AI), metaphysics, epistemology and related issues in philosophy of science. Before joining FAU's Center for the Future Mind, he worked on the philosophical foundations for a science of consciousness as the Elizabeth R. Koch Research Fellow for the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation for Consciousness Studies with his advisers on the project Giulio Tononi and Christof Koch. While conducting this research he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Department of Psychiatry. Mindt received his doctorate degree under the supervision of Tim Crane and Philip Goff at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. His doctoral dissertation focused on whether it's possible to give an information-theoretic explanation of consciousness and what philosophical issues there are that arise from such an explanation of consciousness. Before his doctorate, he earned a master's degree at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, under the supervision of Barry Dainton and his bachelor's degree at the University of Arizona.
Currently Mindt is developing a novel information-theoretic neutral monism, with the goal of tackling two difficult but intimately related problems. The first is consciousness and its place in nature, and how best to give a scientifically and philosophically robust and convincing explanation of consciousness and the mind. The second issue, focused on the metaphysics/ontology of digital existence, whether that be metaverses, virtual reality or augmented reality, and what implications these new spheres of existence have on traditional philosophical questions like personal identity or existence of digital objects/selves, etc.
Mindt said his aim is to develop a more contemporary metaphysics and ontology that can accommodate the changing ontological landscape of the 21st century, and to bring a picture of reality more in line with the contemporary world. The goal is that this picture of reality will help navigate current and future changes in technology, developments in AI, the increasingly sophisticated knowledge of the mind and brain, and related philosophical issues. Ultimately, he said, a better philosophical understanding of these topics will lead to a future where human flourishing is achievable through the careful and ethical nurturing of new technology and increasingly digital lives and selves.
Steven Gubka, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow at FAU’s Center for the Future Mind. Gubka earned his doctorate degree in philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. His doctoral research focused on the normative significance of emotion and emotion regulation. Prior to that, he earned a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Oxford and a bachelor’s degree in hilosophy from the University of Arizona (with a minor in cognitive science).
Gubka is investigating the ethics of virtual actions, the value of virtual friendships, and the moral agency of artificial intelligence. He is also interested in how emerging technology (such as emotion detection by artificial intelligence via facial expressions) affects the regulation of our emotions. This is important because of the role that emotions arguably play in our moral knowledge, agency and overall well-being.
Bolojan is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Applied Arts, Institute of Architecture, Vienna, Austria. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture from the University of Applied Arts, Institute of Architecture, Vienna – Austria, where he studied under the late architect Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher at the Zaha Hadid Vienna Studio. He later joined the research project "Agent-Based Parametric Semiology" (Research Grant Funding- PEEK – FWF. Der Wissenshaftsfonds) as Research Fellow under the supervision of Lead Researcher Patrik Schumacher. The research explores agent-based systems as agent-based life process simulations (architectural crowds) to operationalize the semantic layer within the design process, where the semiological code is defined in terms of the agent's behavioral rules when interacting with a variety of spatial features.
In 2013, he founded his own research studio Nonstandardstudio, where his work and design research developed at the intersection of generative design, computation, multi-agent systems, neural networks and machine learning. The studio focuses on generative design strategies and algorithmic techniques that target the creation of highly complex autopoietic systems that could offer new opportunities for the architectural organization, articulation and signification. These strategies emerge from growth processes, rule-based, multi-agent systems and bottom-up driven design.
Bolojan also joined the internationally renowned architecture office CoopHimmelblau, Vienna, Austria, as computational designer, where he had the opportunity to practice on numerous internationally renowned projects and competitions. Shortly after joining CoopHimmelblau, he held the position of junior associate, computational design specialist and founder and head of Chbl|Code. As head, he was the leading role of developing custom computational design tools (e.g. standalone apps, plugins and add-ons), computational design strategies, virtual and augmented reality applications, machine learning and neural networks applications, as well as robotic fabrication processes. He said he is responsible for the office's current drive to develop deep learning strategies aimed at the augmentation of the designer's native abilities through the development of the DeepHimmelblau Neural Network.
Samuel Director, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in philosophy specializing in bioethics and political philosophy. He was recently a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University in Rhode Island. Much of his work examines the connection between consent and different extreme kinds of cognitive impairment (including dementia, intoxication, anorexia-nervosa, addiction and bipolar disorder).
Director has several research interests that concern the future of the mind including cognitive enhancement and projects about the use of artificial intelligence in medical diagnosis.
Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D., is a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida Atlantic University, co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center and faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University. He is recognized internationally for his groundbreaking work on the subjects of cyberbullying, sexting and social media and gaming abuse, concerns that have paralleled the exponential growth in online communication by young people. He has written seven books, and his interdisciplinary research has been cited approximately 20,000 times in a wide range of fields including pediatrics, information technology, computer science, business, psychology, education and nursing.
As a noted researcher and speaker on youth and social media issues for the last 20 years, Hinduja trains technologists, educators, mental health professionals, youth specialists, parents and students around the world on how to promote the positive use of technology and build healthy online communities. He is frequently asked to provide expert commentary by news organizations, and his work has been featured in venues that include CNN, NPR, the BBC and The New York Times.
He has received Auburn University's Global Anti-Bullying Hero Award, won Florida Atlantic University's Researcher of the Year award, presented on cyberbullying at a Congressional Briefing on Capitol Hill, testified in front of the attorney general and the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security and served as a Fulbright Specialist Scholar at Dublin City University. Hinduja is also the co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Bullying Prevention, published by Springer.
Marques is a Sigma Xi Distinguished Speaker, a Fellow of the Leshner Leadership Institute of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Tau Beta Pi Eminent Engineer, and a senior member of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
Nojoumian’s research interests lie in cybersecurity, privacy, artificial intelligence (AI) and society, human autonomy interactions, and cross-disciplinary research on the intersections of computer science and other disciplines. His featured research projects focus on trust between human and self-driving cars, private planning and coordinating among autonomous drones, reputation-based cryptocurrency mining and impact of malicious attacks on robotic systems. He has been a technical program committee member of interdisciplinary conferences such as the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and Association for Computing Machinery conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Society and the conference on Decision and Game Theory for Security, among others.
Peluso is the past editor of the journal Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, author of more than 25 articles and 12 chapters related to the therapeutic relationship, family therapy, couples counseling and Adlerian Theory. He is currently directing a multi-year study of the quality of the therapeutic relationship using observational coding of verbal and non-verbal behavior, and mathematically modelling it using dynamical systems mathematics.
In addition, he has written and produced a video series to accompany his “Principles” textbook, and a featured speaker in the Therapy Talks video series by Alexander Street Press.
Peluso is also the current past president of the International Association of Marriage and Family Counseling, a division of the American Counseling Association. His areas of clinical expertise include couples therapy, infidelity, family therapy, traumatic grief and loss, and domestic violence.
Vallacher has been a visiting scholar at University of Texas at Austin; Claremont Graduate University, California; University of Bern, Switzerland; Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich, Germany; and University of Montpellier, France. He has received funding for his research from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, the Polish Science Foundation, the Max-Planck Institute for Psychological Research, and the James S. McDonnell Foundation.
He has authored or edited nine professional books, authored a social psychology text, and written more than 150 book chapters and journal articles. He has presented the results of his research at more than 150 national and international conferences and delivered invited addresses at more than 20 universities in the United States and Europe.
Vallacher and his colleagues at several universities were among the first to adapt principles and methods from complexity science and dynamical systems to investigate a wide range of topics in personality and social psychology, including self-concept, self-regulation, mindfulness, social judgment, social influence, close relationships, stereotyping and prejudice, sport psychology, social change and international conflict. Today he is widely recognized as a leader in this redirection of the field.
Dan Turello, Ph.D., leads chair programs and manages the Kluge Prize at The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress. Founded in 2000, the Kluge Center brings together the world's best thinkers to contribute to the conversation about the challenges facing democracies in the 21st century. Turello earned a master's in political theory from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and a doctorate in romance languages and literatures from Harvard University. His articles and reviews have been published by Renaissance Studies, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Rassegna dell'Esercito, Italica and Italian Studies. Drawing on thinkers and practitioners including medieval mystics, Renaissance artists and engineers, and contemporary environmentalists, he is writing a book about how individuals and communities interact with technology in their quest for self-expression and political order.
Carol Gould, Ph.D., is a professor in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. Gould earned her doctorate degree in philosophy from the University of Buffalo, State University of New York, SUNY Buffalo, where she had also received her bachelor’s in philosophy, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
Gould specializes in ancient philosophy, aesthetics, philosophy of psychiatry. She publishes widely in these areas, as well as in Japanese philosophy.
She also co-edited “Art, Ethics and Representations of the Holocaust,” published in 2014.
In addition to her membership in various philosophical organizations, she has served on editorial boards and as peer reviewer for several academic presses and professional journals.
MPCR Lab Members Students List
