Learn more about the current graduate students in the Department of Philosophy at Saint Louis University.
Doctoral Students
![Joel Carini](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/faculty/imgs/joelcarini.jpg)
Joel Carini
Email: joel.carini@slu.edu
Research Interests: Philosophy of language, ethics, moral psychology.
![Michael Cevering Michael Cevering](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/graduate/michaelcevering.jpg)
Michael Cevering
Email: michael.cevering@slu.edu
Research Interests: Comparative philosophy, including Asian and continental; ethics; modern philosophy; philosophy of religion, especially Mormon philosophy; skepticism.
![Isabel Cortens Isabel Cortens](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/graduate/isabelcortensa.jpg)
Isabel Cortens
Email: isabel.cortens@slu.edu
Research Interests: Philosophy of religion, metaphysics, ancient philosophy.
![Joel Cox Joel Cox](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/graduate/joelcox.jpg)
Joel Cox
Email: joel.cox@slu.edu
Research Interests: Ethics of autonomy, metaethics, abortion, clinical ethics, epistemology, divine command theory, platonic defenses of democracy in the republic.
![Caleb Estep Caleb Estep](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/graduate/calebestep.jpg)
Caleb Estep
Email: caleb.estep@slu.edu
Research Interests: Metaphysics, philosophy of language, and medieval philosophy. PhilPeople Profile: https://philpeople.org/profiles/caleb-estep
![estes for web](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/estes-for-web.jpg)
Derek Estes
Email: derek.estes@slu.edu
Research Interests: Bioethics, philosophy of religion, epistemology. Personal Website.
![Profile Pic Placeholder Image](/_resources/img/headshot-placeholder.png)
Charles Freiberg
Email: charles.freiberg@slu.edu
Research Interests: Philosophy of technology, metaphysics, and philosophy of religion.
![Gonzalez Gonzalez](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/graduate/cynthiagonzalez.jpg)
Cynthia Gonzalez
Email: Cynthia.l.gonzalez@slu.edu
Research Interests: Applied ethics (esp. bioethics and public philosophy), politics, art and aesthetics, and history of philosophy.
![Dan Grasso Dan Grasso](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/graduate/danielgrasso.jpg)
Daniel Grasso
Email: daniel.grasso@slu.edu
Research Interests: Medieval philosophy, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, moral psychology.
![Ataollah Hashemi Ataollah Hashemi headshot](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/ataollahforweb.jpg)
Ataollah Hashemi
Email: ataollah.hashemi@slu.edu
Research Interests: Metaphysics, philosophical logic, philosophy of religion.
![Profile Pic Placeholder Image](/_resources/img/headshot-placeholder.png)
Rebecca Hicks
Email: rebecca.hicks@slu.edu
Research Interests: Ancient Greek, medieval and neoplatonic philosophy.
![Chris Holland Chris Holland headshot](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/chrisholland.jpg)
Chris Holland
Email: christopher.holland@slu.edu
Research Interests: Philosophy of religion, metaphysics, metaethics, and philosophical logic.
![Jacob Huls Jacob Huls headshot](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/graduate/jacobhuls.jpg)
Jacob Huls
Email: jacob.huls@slu.edu
Research Interests: Metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of religion.
![Thes Kascsak Thes Kascsak headshot](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/theskascsak.jpg)
Thes Kascsak
Email: thes.kascsak@slu.edu
Research Interests: Ancient and medieval philosophy, happiness and well-being, philosophy of religion.
![Father Steve Fr. Steve headshot](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/frsteve.jpg)
En Suan Lian (Fr. Steve)
Email: ensuan.lian@slu.edu
Research Interests: Medieval, philosophy of mind, philosophical theology.
![Xuya Ma](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/xuyaforweb.jpg)
Xuya Ma
Email: xuya.ma@slu.edu
Research Interests: Ancient and medieval philosophy, metaphysics, philosophy of religion.
![Fr. Adrian Patrick McCaffery](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/mcaffery.jpg)
Fr. Adrian Patrick McCaffery, OP.
Email: patrick.mccaffery@slu.edu
Research Interests: Ancient and medieval philosophy, metaphysics, philosophy of religion.
![cecilia for web](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/cecilia-nicklaus.jpg)
Cecilia Nicklaus
Email: cecilia.nicklaus@slu.edu
Research Interests: Metaphysics, medieval philosophy, and philosophy of religion.
![benjamin for web](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/benjamin-parviz.jpg)
Benjamin Parviz
Email: benjamin.parviz@slu.edu
Research Interests: hope, human flourishing, and bioethics.
![James Pepe James Pepe](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/graduate/jamespepe.jpg)
James Pepe
Email: James.pepe@slu.edu
Research Interests: Ancient and medieval philosophy, metaphysics, ethics, and thomistic angelology.
![Ryan Powers Ryan Powers](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/graduate/ryanpowers.jpg)
Ryan Powers
Email: ryan.a.powers@slu.edu
Research Interests: Value theory, philosophy of science, history of philosophy.
![Pedro Rapallo Zubillaga Pedro Rapallo Zubillaga](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/graduate/pedrorapallozubillaga.jpg)
Pedro Rapallo Zubillaga
Email: pedro.rapallozubillaga@slu.edu
Research Interests: Metaphysics, especially social ontology and the philosophy of fiction.
![Montaque Reynolds](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/reynolds-montaque.jpg)
Montaque Reynolds
Email: montaque.reynolds@slu.edu
Research Interests: Epistemology (especially virtue), philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind.
![Nicholas Sparks](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/nicholassparks.jpg)
Nicholas Sparks
Email: nicholas.sparks@slu.edu
Research Interests: Philosophical anthropology, philosophy of technology, ethics, continental philosophy.
![Joseph Taccolini](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/joshtaccolini.jpg)
Josh Taccolini
Email: joshua.taccolini@slu.edu
Research Interests: Emotions, values, normativity theory.
![Profile Pic Placeholder Image](/_resources/img/headshot-placeholder.png)
Alexander Zhang
Email: alexander.h.zhang@slu.edu
![Yiling Zhou](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/zhou-yiling.jpg)
Yiling Zhou
Email: yiling.zhou@slu.edu
Research Interests: Ethics and moral psychology.
![Profile Pic Placeholder Image](/_resources/img/headshot-placeholder.png)
Jacob Zimbelman
Email: jacob.zimbelman@slu.edu
Research Interests: Intuition, perception, theory choice, Christian neoplatonism, practical reasoning.
Master's Students
![Culligan Culligan](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/_img/culligan.jpg)
Br. Augustine Culligan, OP
Email: joseph.culligan@slu.edu
Research Interests: Metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind.
![Hilliker Hilliker](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/graduate/hilliker.jpg)
Br. Joseph Hilliker, OP
Email: cullen.hilliker@slu.edu
Research interests: Bioethics, metaphysics, and philosophy of physics.
![Jonathan Spates Jonathan Spates](/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/graduate/jonathanspates.jpg)
Jonathan Spates
Email: jonathan.spates@slu.edu
Research interests: Metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of language.