I am a Ph.D. Candidate and Connaught Scholar in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. 

I study inferential communication, social meaning, social norms, implicature, "natural" meaning or showing, Peircean pragmatism and semiotics, and Gricean pragmatics. My dissertation argues the following:

1. Gricean implicature mechanics cannot generalize to all inferential communication.

2. Relevance Theory, plus one or two premises, shows how someone can perform a speech act merely by deviating from social norms.

3. Dogwhistles are just as much about insiders maintaining plausible deniability with themselves, as they are about insiders maintaining plausible deniability with outsiders. 

My thesis is supervised by Cheryl Misak & Nate Charlow, with advising from Brendan de Kennessey and Joseph Heath. 

In addition to philosophy I have a passion for issues surrounding mental health and disability. During the pandemic I trained 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.