Dan Li
Asst Professor
Weissman School of Arts and Sciences
Department: Philosophy
Areas of expertise: philosophy of climate science, philosophy of AI, network science, epistemology
Email Address: dan.li@baruch.cuny.edu
> View CV- Biography
- Teaching
- Research and Creative Activity
- Grants
- Honors and Awards
- Service
How do scientists know what they know?–this is the question that I aim to answer throughout my research. Specifically, I look at how climate scientists use computational methods, numerical modeling, and big data to learn about climate change. I've written on inductive inference in machine learning and the logic of research questions in dendroclimatology. My current research focuses on explainable AI in climate science.
Education
Ph.D., Philosophy of Science, Indiana University Bloomington United States
M.S., Informatics, Indiana University Bloomington United States
Ph.D., Informatics, Indiana University Bloomington United States
M.S., History of Science, Peking University Beijing China
B.Eng, Thermal Science and Energy Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China Hefei China
| Semester | Course Prefix | Course Number | Course Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2024 | PHI | 1500 | Major Issues in Philosophy |
| Spring 2024 | PHI | 1500 | Major Issues in Philosophy |
| Fall 2023 | PHI | 3200H | Honors - Environmental Ethics |
| Fall 2023 | PHI | 3200 | Env Ethcs,Law,Publ Policy |
| Fall 2023 | PHI | 1500 | Major Issues in Philosophy |
Artistic and Creative Activities
Li, D. (2023). Elements of Sterile: A Guide to Real Academic Writing.
Journal Articles
(2024). Moving beyond post-hoc XAI: Lessons learned from dynamical climate modeling. EGUsphere, 2024. 1--24.
(2023). Machines Learn Better with Better Data Ontology: Lessons from Philosophy of Induction and Machine Learning Practice. Minds and Machines, 33(3). 429--450.
(2022). Model robustness in economics: the admissibility and evaluation of tractability assumptions. Synthese, 200(1). 32.
(2022). If a tree grows no ring and no one is around: how scientists deal with missing tree rings. Climatic Change, 174(1). 6.
A Trip in Plato's Cave: Explainable Artificial Intelligence. In Progress.
Missing Link in Inference with Climate Networks. In Progress.
Presentations
Li, D. Climate-invariant machine learning. : NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Li, D. Climate-invariant machine learning. Second Annual Baruch College Conference on Climate Research, Teaching, and Collaboration.
Li, D. Machines learn better with better data ontology. : Philosophy Department, University at Albany, SUNY.
Li, D. Climate-invariant machine learning. NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
Li, D. What does algorithmic fairness have to do with climate science?. Society for the Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting.
Li, D. Machines learn better with better data ontology. : Department of Philosophy of Science and Technology of Computer Simulation, High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart.
Li, D. Machines learn better with better data ontology. Philosophy Department, University of Oregon: Philosophy Department, University of Oregon.
Li, D. Tractability Assumptions, Holism, and Model Robustness. Philosophy of Science Association 27th Biennial Meeting.
Li, D. Some Models are Universal and Rare: does “universality” make a difference. The 8th Biennial meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association.
Li, D. Tractability Assumptions, Holism, and Model Robustness. IU HPSC Women’s Leadership Conference.
Li, D. The Medicalization of Premenstrual Syndrome. 9th Meeting of International Society for the History of Medicine.
Li, D. The Missing Link in Inferences with Climate Networks. Philosophy of Science Association 27th Biennial Meeting (2020/2021).
Li, D. The case of the missing tree ring hypothesis. : History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine colloquium, Indiana University.
Li, D. Can We Infer the Absolute Timescale from Paleoclimate data? –lessons frompaleoclimatology. Boston University Philosophy Grad Conference.
Li, D. If A Tree Grows No Rings and No One is Around: how scientists deal with missing tree rings. Philosophy of Science Association 27th Biennial Meeting.
Other Scholarly Works
Li, D. (2023). Frontiers in Climate Science: Inquiries Into Data and Methods.
| Honor / Award | Organization Sponsor | Date Received | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| COAS NSF Interdisciplinary Research Training Fellowship | 2020-08-01 |
College
| Committee Name | Position Role | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI in our curriculum | Attendee, Meeting | Present |