Contact
Email:
kzollman@andrew.cmu.edu
Website:
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/kzollman/
Further Information
Kevin Zollman is an associate professor of philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Kansas State University and a master's degree and Ph.D. from the department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at University of California, Irvine.
Research interests
Zollman's research focuses on the use of mathematical and computer simulation models of social behavior to understand both human and non-human animals. His recent work comprises two projects . The first utilizes models from game theory to understand the evolution and perpetuation of communication between animals. Of particular interest to Zollman are situations known as "partial conflict of interest," where there exists some incentive for honesty but also some incentive for lying. His work in this area has implication for ecology, philosophy of biology, and philosophy of modeling. Zollman's second major project focuses on the social structure of science. Utilizing a number of models from economics, Zollman investigates the effects of different communication patterns and different incentives on the practice of science.