I'm an award-winning philosophy teacher at the University of Toronto. In the Fall of '26 I start a postdoctoral fellowship at the Mississauga campus. 

My research focuses on high-context communication and the social dynamics (i.e., norms, expectations, and conventions) that make it possible. I have a passion for helping Level 1 autistic people beyond just myself. 

Here's the abstract to my dissertation, How to Say Things Without Words:

This dissertation reveals a new dependence relation between social expectations (which include social norms) and inferential communication (also called behavioral communication): fluency in the latter requires comprehensive awareness of the former. This claim has implications for understanding and treating Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), since two of the most common traits are impairments in behavioral communication and social norm detection. It follows from my view that impairments in detecting social norms would automatically result in impairments in behavioral communication. This dissertation also pushes back on the widespread assumption that inferential communication (e.g., conversational implicature) is only possible when a Cooperative Principle (CP) is active among communicator and audience, and this mechanic is what makes overt implied communication possible. Rather, I argue that mutually-recognized expectation is the fundamental mechanism that enables humans to communicate overtly without words, codes, or conventions. A CP is merely one way to coordinate mutually-recognized expectations. In the process of making these arguments I offer a precise set of mechanics for how humans deviate from mutually-recognized behavioral expectations to conduct overt acts of inferential communication. The final chapter of the dissertation pertains to two kinds of strategic, plausibly deniable speech: (1) that which aims to hide illocutionary force from outsiders, known as dogwhistles, and (2) that which aims to induce undesirable perlocutionary effects in an insider audience while hiding those effects from the audience. I argue that cases of (2) are often mischaracterized as cases of (1), and therefore that standard manipulation tactics are often mischaracterized as dogwhistling. The two may co-occur in a single utterance, but the two processes must be theorized separately for clarity and accuracy. 

My dissertation was co-supervised by Cheryl Misak & Nate Charlow, and it was advised by Brendan de Kennessey and Joseph Heath. Jennifer Saul and Jason Stanley served as additional examiners. 

I also have experience as a peer counsellor and helped found our department's inaugural Mental Health & Disability Caucus, receiving a Graduate Student Service Award for my work in this role. 

Before attending the University of Toronto I received a B.A. in Philosophy with Honors and a minor in Physics from the University of Tennessee.