About Ryan
About Me
As a working-class kid from a small town, I never imagined becoming a philosopher. I stumbled into philosophy—and eventually into climate science—driven by curiosity and a love for logic. My work is devoted to a simple but unsettling question: if all models are wrong, why trust them? I’ve come to see that error, disagreement, and even failure are not flaws but the very forces that move science forward. Along the way I’ve worked closely with scientists and published in leading journals to explore how uncertainty can be clarified and made useful, trustworthy even. My path has never been a straight line, but a series of lessons learned—much like the sciences I study.
Professional Highlights
Publications
Lead author on “Moving beyond post hoc explainable AI: lessons from dynamical climate modeling” (Geoscientific Model Development, 2025), selected as a highlight paper
Public Engagement
Wrote “Why imperfect climate models are more helpful than you think” for Yale Climate Connections (2025), introducing philosophy of science insights to the general public
Invited Talks
Speaker at NCAR Climate & Global Dynamics Lab (2022), NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (2023, 2024), and CUNY Advanced Science Research Center (2025)
Leadership & Collaboration
Co-organized and convened “Making Climate Models & Data Actionable” workshop at AGU 2022; principal organizer of interdisciplinary grant proposals bridging philosophy and climate science
Curriculum Vitae
Updated: September 11, 2025