DIRECTORS
Jonathan Beever
Director and Co-Founder; Associate Professor of Ethics and Digital Culture
Dr. Jonathan Beever is Associate Professor of Ethics & Digital Culture in the Department of Philosophy and the Texts & Technology Ph.D. Program at the University of Central Florida. He is the founding director of the UCF Center for Ethics (founded Fall 2019), and the Program Director of the Theoretical and Applied Ethics Certificate Program. He works in applied ethics, specifically at the intersections among digital ethics, environmental ethics, and bioethics.
Stephen M. Kuebler
Associate Director and Co-Founder; Professor of Chemistry and Optics
Dr. Stephen M. Kuebler received the D.Phil. degree in chemistry from the University of Oxford and the B.S. degree in chemistry and B.A. in German from Tulane University. Dr. Kuebler joined the faculties of CREOL and the Department of Chemistry in August 2003 and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in May 2008. His research interests include materials and processes for 3D nano- and microfabrication, use of these techniques for creating nanophotonic structures and devices, nonlinear optical materials and photochemistry.
ADVISORY BOARD
Stephen M. Fiore
Professor, Philosophy & Institute for Simulation and Training
Dr. Stephen M. Fiore, is Director, Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, and Professor with the University of Central Florida’s Cognitive Sciences Program in the Department of Philosophy and Institute for Simulation & Training. He is Past-President of the Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research and a founding Program Committee member for the annual Science of Team Science Conference. He maintains a multidisciplinary research interest that incorporates aspects of the cognitive, social, organizational, and computational sciences in the investigation of learning and performance in individuals and teams. His primary area of research is the interdisciplinary study of complex collaborative cognition and the understanding of how humans interact socially and with technology.
Michael Georgiopoulos
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Dean, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Dr. Michael Georgiopoulos is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the University of Central Florida. He currently serves as the dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) at the University of Central Florida (UCF). He graduated with a Diploma from the National Technical University of Athens in 1981, and a Masters and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Connecticut (UConn) in 1983 and 1986, all in Electrical Engineering. Georgiopoulos joined the University of Central Florida in December 1986. His research interests span various paradigms and applications of Machine Learning, like Artificial Neural Networks, Decision Trees, Kernel-Based Methods, Evolutionary Computation, and Data Mining among others.
Jana L. Jasinski
Professor of Sociology; Vice Provost for Faculty Excellence
Dr. Jana L. Jasinski is the vice provost for Faculty Excellence. She has led faculty recruitment, retention, development and diversity efforts, as well as other initiatives and programs to support and strengthen all faculty since July 2018. She received her Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire (1996) where she was also a National Institute of Mental Health Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Family Research Laboratory (1997). As a sociologist, Dr. Jasinski’s research interests are in the areas of both lethal and non-lethal interpersonal violence, substance abuse, the response of the criminal justice system to violence, and the negative consequences of child sexual assault.
Michael Johnson
Professor of Physics; Provost
Dr. Michael Johnson is the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and a Professor of Physics. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Virginia, and came to UCF in 1990 following postdocs at the University of Kentucky and Indiana University. His research is in theoretical condensed matter physics. He has investigated integrable one-dimensional quantum systems, nonlinear optical properties of solids, fractional statistics, and pattern formation in complex fluids. His recent work focuses on electronic properties in highly correlated and nanoscale systems, including quantum dots in the fractional quantum Hall regime and high-current non-equilibrium electron transport.
Elizabeth Klonoff
Professor of Psychology; Dean, College of Graduate Studies
Dr. Elizabeth Klonoff is Dean of the College of Graduate Studies at the University of Central Florida. Klonoff received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Oregon. Klonoff has conducted research in the area of tobacco control, sexism, racism, and physical and mental health. The National Institutes of Health and the California Department of Health Services have funded her work. She has published widely on culture and gender diversity in clinical psychology, behavioral medicine, and preventive medicine and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in multiple divisions.
Nancy Stanlick
Professor of Philosophy; Chair of Philosophy
Dr. Nancy Stanlick is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy (eff. 8/8/23). Prior to appointment as Chair, she was Associate Dean and Director of Research in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida, having served CAH for 13 years as assistant to the dean, assistant dean, and associate dean. Dr. Stanlick’s interests are primarily in the history of American and Early Modern philosophy, the history of ideas, and theoretical and applied ethics. She earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of South Florida.
POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLARS
Hajer Albalawi
Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. Hajer Albalawi is a Postdoctoral Scholar specializing in ethics, digital media, with a focus on dissecting codes of ethics, analyzing value artifacts, and developing strategic frameworks for understanding disciplinary frameworks governing professional development and ethics in the digital realm. She holds a Ph.D. in Texts and Technology with a focus on digital media from the same institution. Her Master of Arts in English was facilitated through the distinguished King Abdullah Scholarship Program. Her research interests particularly revolve around the ethical implications of technology.
Joshua Kissel
Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. Joshua Kissel earned his PhD in philosophy from Northwestern University (2021), then spending two years as an instructor in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Phillips Academy – Andover. Kissel’s research focuses on our conception of social freedom and its realization. His other research explores the relationship between and of compatibility of left-wing political ideals with Effective Altruist ethical orientations and has written on philosophy of education and distributive justice with a focus on defending egalitarianism against sufficiency standards of educational justice.
Alex Nikolaidis
Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. Alex Nikolaidis is a postdoctoral scholar at the UCF Center for Ethics. Before joining the University of Central Florida, he was a former Distinguished University Fellow at The Ohio State University where he received his PhD in educational studies and a former Fulbright grantee at Teachers College, Columbia University where he received his MA in philosophy and education. Nikolaidis’s research interests include education ethics, philosophy of education, and education policy. He has published articles in the Journal of Education Policy, Harvard Educational Review, Journal of Curriculum Studies, and Theory and Research in Education, among other scholarly venues.
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
Paul Copeland
Paul Copeland is a 4th year undergraduate student at the University of Central Florida. He’s pursuing a major in philosophy and a minor in legal studies. His main areas of interest are ethics and metaphysics.
Grace Guedouar
Grace Guedouar is currently studying at UCF. Philosophers such as Kierkegaard and Socrates have been her main areas of interest and were the reason she began researching in philosophy. She is currently researching student’s areas of issues and relating them to different philosophies. Grace has been an intern for the Center for Ethics for a year now, last year her project was researching different professors at UCF and their thoughts on philosophy.
Daniela Martinez
Daniela Martinez is an undergraduate psychology student on the clinical track alongside a cognitive science minor. She brings a passion for understanding the intricacies of the human mind. She is an Outreach Assistant for the Center for Ethics, actively contributing to organizing guest speaker events, notably the ‘Ethically Speaking’ series.
Manasi Prakash
Manasi Prakash, is a second year Psychology major on the pre-medicine track. She hopes to attend medical school and become a psychiatrist. Manasi is part of the Burnett Honors College and STEP@UCF, a Service Dog Training and Education program at UCF. Along with Dr. Stephen Kuebler, I am investigating previously collected data on Graduate Student Perceptions on Ethics at Research Institutions. That data was from a previous study by C4E leaders of over 100 graduate students at UCF about their perspectives on ethics and ethics trainings.
The Center for Ethics has also previously supported several other researchers and interns including:
- Lakelyn Taylor (Ph.D. Communications 2022)
- Eve Vazquez (B.S. Psychology 2022)
- Jordan Collins (B.S. Computer Science 2021)
- Joel Gonzalez (B.A. Philosophy 2020)
- Jennifer Crowell (Ph.D. student, Texts & Technology)
- Emily Lapdura (Ph.D. student, Texts & Technology)