Farewell to our Departing Postdoctoral Fellows 2025-26
As they conclude their time at the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, our departing postdoctoral fellows reflect on the experiences and relationships that shaped their time at Stanford. The Ethics Center's postdoctoral fellowship program supports scholars whose work examines pressing ethical questions while contributing to teaching, research, mentoring, and building an interdisciplinary ethics community at the university and beyond in the technology sector. We invited them to share how the fellowship has influenced their work and future endeavors.
Emma Ruth Duncan
Research Area: Ethics of influence, trust, and human-AI relationships
Fellowship Highlights: The many insightful conversations facilitated by the McCoy Center’s amazing people and rich programming were integral in the development of my research and in sparking new interests. Conversations with faculty and fellow postdocs were invaluable in refining and publishing two new philosophical articles (with a third forthcoming) and in pivoting to new work in the ethics of trust in human-AI relationships. It was also especially rewarding to partner with the innovative faculty and staff at the d.school, where I discovered a passion for designing interdisciplinary ethics instructional materials. The incredible conversations and connections the McCoy Center fellowship has afforded me have fostered lifelong relationships and helped me discover new career paths and opportunities.
What’s Next? Design ethics consulting and AI research
Postdoc Publications:
"I Thought We Were Friends!" Friendship and the Normativity of Influence
"Mind Your Own Business!" Relationships and Standing to Give Reasons
Trust in Personal Relationships (forthcoming)
Embedding Ethics in Design Education
Wanheng Hu
Research Area: Science and technology studies, with a focus on how AI reshapes expertise and becomes credible in medicine.
Fellowship Highlights: The most meaningful part of the fellowship was being part of such a supportive and generous intellectual community. At the Ethics Center, conversations with wonderful colleagues sharpened my thinking about the ethical implications of the epistemic questions I study as an STS scholar. Through the Embedded Ethics program, I learned to see more clearly how STS scholarship can contribute to normative questions and ethics education in computer science. These experiences have profoundly shaped my research interests, inspiring me to think more deeply about how ethics is interpreted, negotiated, and put into practice in the AI industry.
What’s Next? Assistant Professor of Science, Technology, and Society in the Department of Philosophy at Peking University.
Postdoc Publications:
Machine Learning in Medical Systems: Toward a Sociological Agenda
Global Regulation of Surgical AI Devices
Alexander Martin Mussgnug
Research Area: I study the use of AI in science and how the measurement of AI shapes policy
Fellowship Highlights: Being at Apple University and Stanford allowed me to get involved with two institutions at the very forefront of AI. I am grateful for the countless conferences, workshops, and seminars I was able to attend and the personal and professional relationships I developed over the past year. I am glad to have been a part of such a dynamic and encouraging environment at the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society and to explore questions on technology and society together with all the other postdocs, staff, and faculty.
Postdoc Publications:
The Value of Value-Laden Science (forthcoming)
Responsible AI for Research: Between Moral Philosophy and Philosophy of Science
Interdisciplinary research: Friend or foe to ethical AI?
Ben Mylius
Research Area: environmental philosophy and tech utopianism
Fellowship Highlights: I value the freedom and flexibility the Center gave me to explore across campus in all directions - into climate, AI, creative practice, and beyond - was such a tonic for my intellectual work (and my life!). I'm also incredibly grateful for the friendships and mentorships and connections I made, many of which are shaping up to carry on well into the future. I'm looking forward to carrying forward what I've learned into the communities and places I'll be engaging with next.
What’s Next? Faculty in Environmental Studies at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York
Postdoc Publications:
Stories we Tell Ourselves: Ben Mylius and the Narratives of Climate Change
Justin Shin
Research Area: Science in law and public policy
Fellowship Highlights: The fellowship allowed me to meet so many people who shared my interests but had different backgrounds. Being part of a workshop where we got focused feedback from people associated with the center was really valuable.
What’s Next? Assistant professor at CUNY Lehman College, helping with their new AI program
Postdoc Publications:
Measuring Causal Specificity as Distance to Bijection (Forthcoming)