ROBERTA L. MILLSTEIN
Curriculum Vitae
Department of Philosophy
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616-8673
RLMillstein@UCDavis.edu
EDUCATION
Dartmouth College
AREAS
Areas of Specialization: Philosophy of Science, History and Philosophy of Biology
Areas of Competence: Environmental Ethics, Medical Ethics, Logic
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
University of California, Davis: Department of Philosophy
Associate Professor, 2006-present
Courses taught: philosophy of biology (lower-division undergraduate, upper-division undergraduate, and graduate), philosophy of science (lower-division undergraduate), environmental ethics (upper-division undergraduate)
University of Pittsburgh: Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Visiting Associate Professor, Spring 2005
Courses taught: philosophy of biology (undergraduate and graduate)
California State University, East Bay: Department of Philosophy
Lecturer, 1997-98; Assistant Professor, 1998-2004; Associate Professor, 2004-2006; Interim Chair, 2005-6
Courses taught: Upper-division undergraduate: Philosophy of Science, History of Science, Medical Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Biology & Ethics, Science, Technology, and Values, Science, Ethics, and Technology, Philosophy of Cognition and Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy and Science Fiction. Lower-division undergraduate: Workshop in Clear Thinking, Introduction to Logic
PUBLICATIONS
Dietrich, Michael R. and Millstein, Roberta L. (forthcoming), The Role of Causal Processes in the Neutral and Nearly Neutral Theories. Philosophy of Science.
Millstein, Roberta L. (forthcoming), Concepts of Drift and Selection in 'The Great Snail Debate' of the 1950s and Early 1960s in Joe Cain and Michael Ruse (eds.), Descended from Darwin: Insights into the History of Evolutionary Studies, 1900-1970. (commissioned)
Shavit, Ayelet and Millstein, Roberta L. (2008), Group Selection is Dead! Long Live Group Selection? BioScience 58 (7): 574-575.
Millstein, Roberta L. (2008), Distinguishing Drift and Selection Empirically: 'The Great Snail Debate' of the 1950s. Journal of the History of Biology 41: 339-367.
Millstein, Roberta L. (2007), Hsp90-Induced Evolution: Adaptationist, Neutralist, and Developmentalist Scenarios. Biological Theory: Integrating Development, Evolution and Cognition 2(4): 376-386.
Millstein, Roberta L. and Skipper, Robert A. (2007), Population Genetics in David Hull and Michael Ruse (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 22-43. (commissioned).
Millstein, Roberta L. (2006), Discussion of Four Case Studies on Chance in Evolution: Philosophical Themes and Questions. Philosophy of Science 73(5): 678-687.
Millstein, Roberta L. (2006), Natural Selection as a Population-Level Causal Process. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 57(4): 627-653.
Millstein, Roberta L. (2005), Selection vs. Drift: A Response to Brandon’s Reply. Biology and Philosophy 20(1): 171-175.
Skipper, Robert A. and Millstein, Roberta L. (2005) Thinking about Evolutionary Mechanisms: Natural Selection. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 36(2): 327-347. Special edition on Mechanisms in Biology, edited by C.F. Craver and L. Darden.
Millstein, Roberta L. (2003), Interpretations of Probability in Evolutionary Theory. Philosophy of Science 70(5): 1317-1328.
Millstein, Roberta L. (2003), How Not to Argue for the Indeterminism of Evolution: A Look at Two Recent Attempts to Settle the Issue in Andreas Hüttemann, (ed.), Determinism in Physics and Biology, Paderborn: Mentis, 91-107.
Millstein, Roberta L. (2002), Evolution, in Peter Machamer and Michael Silberstein (eds.), The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Science, Malden, MA: Blackwell, 227-251. (commissioned)
Millstein, Roberta L. (2002), Are Random Drift and Natural Selection Conceptually Distinct? Biology and Philosophy 17(1):33-53.
Millstein, Roberta L. (2000),Chance and Macroevolution. Philosophy of Science 67(4): 603-24.
Millstein, Roberta L. (1996), Random Drift and the Omniscient Viewpoint. Philosophy of Science 63(3 Suppl): S10-S18.
BOOK REVIEWS
Book review of Reasoning in Biological Discoveries: Essays on Mechanisms, Interfield Relations, and Anomaly Resolution, by Lindley Darden. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2007.07.08 (commissioned).
Book review of Adaptationism and Optimality, edited by Steven Orzack and Elliott Sober. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2002.05.06 (commissioned).
Book Review of Biology and Epistemology, by Richard Creath and Jane Maienschein (Eds.). Journal of the History of Biology 33: 411-14, 2000 (commissioned).
Book Review of Darwinian Natural Right: The Biological Ethics of Human Nature by Larry Arnhart. Ethics 110.3: 652, 2000 (commissioned).
WORKS IN PROGRESS
Thinking about the Concept of 'Population' in Evolutionary Biology
Neutralism vs. Selectionism: From Snails to Molecules – early version presented at ISHPSSB 2005
INVITED PRESENTATIONS
How Many Chances Become One Chance, Presented at the Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques (IHPST) at the Université Paris 1, Paris, France, June 2008.
Thinking about the Concept of 'Population' in Evolutionary Biology, Presented at the Edges & Boundaries of Biological Objects Workshop, Department of Philosophy at the University of Utah, March 13-15 2008
Seven Things You Should Believe About Drift and Selection, Presented at a workshop sponsored by the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST) at the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, October 2007.
Demonstrating Chance in Evolution: Lessons From an Early Drifter, Presented at Duke University for the Center for Philosophy of Biology's 6th annual Conference in Philosophy & Biology: "Chance in Evolution," Durham, NC, April 2007.
The Nearly Neutral Theory of Evo-Devo? Presented at the 2007 CSU Northridge Philosophy of Biology Conference, Northridge, CA, March 2007.
Finding the Causes in an Evolving Population: Lessons From an Early Drifter. Presented to the Townsend Center Working Group in the History and Philosophy of Logic, Mathematics, and Science, University of California, Berkeley, December 2006.
Philosophical Reflections on a Historical Case Study of Random Drift. Presented at the Future Directions in Biology Studies (FDIBS) Workshop, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, July 2006.
The Determinism/Indeterminism Question in the Philosophy of Evolutionary Biology. Presented at UC Santa Cruz as part the Philosophy Department's Colloquia Series, Santa Cruz, CA, April 2006.
The Determinism/Indeterminism Question in the Philosophy of Evolutionary Biology. Presented at Dartmouth College as part of Sapientia Lecture Series, Hanover, NH, July 2005.
Is Natural Selection a Mechanism? (based on a paper co-authored with Robert A. Skipper). Presented at the University of Minnesota as part of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science Lecture Series, Minneapolis, MN, January 2005.
Is Natural Selection a Mechanism? (based on a paper co-authored with Robert A. Skipper) Presented at the University of Pittsburgh as part of the Center for Philosophy of Science Lecture Series, Pittsburgh, PA, January 2005.
Why Natural Selection Matters in the Debate Over Genetically Modified Food. Presented at the University of Cincinnati Philosophy Colloquium, Cincinnati, OH, April 2004.
How Not to Argue for the Indeterminism of Evolution: A Look at Two Recent Attempts to Settle the Issue. Workshop on Determinism in Physics and Biology, Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany, July 2002.
Chance and Evolution. Presented at the University of Marylands Committee on the History and Philosophy of Science Colloquium Series, College Park, MD, November 2001.
The Ethics of Genetic Engineering: Should We Create Designer Babies? Presented at the Department of Biological Science Seminar Series, California State University Hayward, Hayward, CA, May 2000.
Determinism vs. Indeterminism in Evolutionary Biology. Presented at the California State University, Hayward, Faculty Development Workshop, Hayward, CA, November 1999.
Should We Clone Humans? Presented at the California State University, Hayward Conference on Cloning, Hayward, CA, April 1998.
On Using the Golden Rule to Preserve Subspecies. (with J. Ramsey). Presented at the Confluences conference, Newport, Oregon, May 1997.
REFEREED PRESENTATIONS
The Nearly Neutral Theory of Evo-Devo? Presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, Exeter, UK, July 2007.
The Role of Causal Processes in the Neutral and Nearly Neutral Theories. (with Michael R. Dietrich) Presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Vancouver, BC, November 2006 (PSA 2006).
Selection or Drift? Methodology in ‘The Great Snail Debate’, 1950s-1960s. Presented at the annual meeting of the History of Science Society, Minneapolis, MN, November 2005 (HSS 2005).
Neutralism vs. Selectionism: From Snails to Molecules. Presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, Guelph, Ontario, July 2005 (ISHPSSB 2005).
Discussion of 'Four Case Studies on Chance in Evolution': Philosophical Themes and Questions. Presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Austin, TX, November 2004 (PSA 2004).
Natural Selection, Genetically Modified Food, and the Environment. Presented at the International Society for Environmental Ethics session at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Washington, D.C., December 2003.
Populations, Probability, and Natural Selection. Presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, Vienna, Austria, July 2003.
Interpretations of Probability in Evolutionary Theory. Presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Milwaukee, WI, November 2002.
Comments on Mark Bedaus A New Defense of Adaptationism. Presented at the 54th Annual Northwest Philosophy Conference, Portland, OR, October 2002.
Interpretations of Probability in Evolutionary Theory. Presented at the 54th Annual Northwest Philosophy Conference, Portland, OR, October 2002.
On Using the Golden Rule to Preserve Subspecies (with J. Ramsey). Presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, Hamden, CT, July 2001.
Is the Evolutionary Process Deterministic or Indeterministic? An Argument for Agnosticism. Presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Vancouver, Canada, November 2000.
The Directed Mutation Controversy: Who Needs a Mechanism If You Have Causality? Presented at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Philadelphia, PA, December 1997.
Determinism vs. Indeterminism: Either Way, Evolution Is Probabilistic. Presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, Seattle, WA, July 1997.
Chance and Explanation in Evolutionary Biology. Presented at the Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Berkeley, CA, March 1997.
Random Drift and the Omniscient Viewpoint. Presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Cleveland, OH, November 1996.
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
University of California, Davis, Academic Senate Research Travel Grant, July 2007
University of California, Davis, Committee on Research Small Grant in Aid of Research, May 2007
California State University, Hayward, Faculty Support Grant, Fall 2004
California State University, Hayward, Faculty Support Grant, Fall 2001
Who's Who Among America's Teachers, 2002
California State University, Hayward, Faculty Support Grant, Fall 1999
University of Minnesota Graduate School, Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, 1994-1995
Quarter Research Fellowship, Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota, Fall 1993
Quarter Research Fellowship, Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota, Spring 1992
HONORS
Marquis Who's Who of American Women, 2007
Who's Who Among America's Teachers, 2002
ACADEMIC SERVICE
Departmental
Philosophy Department Curriculum Committee, 2007-present
Philosophy Department Graduate Admissions Committee, 2007-present
Philosophy Department Search Committee, 2006-7
Faculty presenter at June 2007 commencement
Divisional and University
Social Sciences Divisional Advisory Committee, 2008-present
Academic Planning & Development Committee of the Graduate Council, 2007-present
Science &
& Technology Studies Program Committee, 2006-present
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND SERVICE
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES AND SERVICE
Referee for Acta Biotheoretica, Biology and Philosophy, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Science, Synthese, and the National Science Foundation Grant Program.
Member of the Ethics Committee for the Center for Elders Independence (CEI), 2006-present.
Panel Discussion Chair, Intellectual and Structural Boundaries: HPS, STS, and SSP at the Southwest Colloquium for the History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (SCHPLS), Davis, CA, April 2006.
Participant in the 2005 Dibner-MBL History of Biology Seminar, Cosmic Evolution and Astrobiology, Woods Hole, MA, May 15-22, 2005.
Roundtable discussant, Models, at the Future Directions in the History, Philosophy, and Society Studies of Biology Workshop, San Francisco, CA, September 2004.
Participant in the 2004 Dibner-MBL History of Biology Seminar, Perspectives on Molecular Evolution, Woods Hole, MA, May 19-26, 2004.
Chair of colloquium, Progress and Realism in Science, at the Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, San Francisco, CA, March 2003.
Colloquium organizer and chair, Science, Pseudoscience, and Creationism, presented by Phil Gasper, March 2003.
Colloquium organizer and chair, Chance, at the biennial meeting of the International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, Hamden, CT, July 2001.
SPECIAL SKILLS
World Wide Web authoring and design (HTML with CSS, CGI/Perl, PHP, MySQL); internet and desktop publishing applications; Macintosh, UNIX, and Windows operating systems; programming in Pascal, C, Lisp and Prolog.