Dan Li

Philosopher of science · AI, machine learning and climate science

Areas of specialization: philosophy of science, especially philosophy of AI and machine learning, and philosophy of climate science

Areas of competence: history of science, social epistemology, feminist philosophy of science

Education

2023Ph.D. (dual major), Philosophy of Science and Informatics, Indiana University Bloomington
- Majors: Philosophy of Science (History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine); Complex Networks and Systems (Informatics). Minor: Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
- Dissertation: Frontiers in Climate Science: Inquiries into Data and Methods
- Committee: Elisabeth Lloyd, Amit Hagar, Ben Kravitz, Travis O'Brien, Alessandro Flammini, Filippo Radicchi
2023M.S., Informatics, Indiana University Bloomington
2018M.S., History of Science, Peking University
2014B.Eng., Thermal Science and Energy Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China

2026Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Queens College, CUNY
2025–Career break: childcare; independent research and writing on Unlawful Laws
2023–2025Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Baruch College, CUNY

2025O'Loughlin, R., Li, D., Neale, R., and O'Brien, T. A. "Moving beyond post hoc explainable artificial intelligence: a perspective paper on lessons learned from dynamical climate modeling." Geoscientific Model Development 18: 787–802. doi:10.5194/gmd-18-787-2025
2023Li, D. "Machines learn better with better data ontology: Lessons from philosophy of induction and machine learning practice." Minds and Machines 33(3): 429–450. doi:10.1007/s11023-023-09639-9
2022Li, D. "If a tree grows no ring and no one is around: how scientists deal with missing tree rings." Climatic Change 174: 6. doi:10.1007/s10584-022-03424-w
2022O'Loughlin, R., and Li, D. "Model robustness in economics: the admissibility and evaluation of tractability assumptions." Synthese 200(1). doi:10.1007/s11229-022-03608-y

2023"The Elements of Sterile" (satire on academic writing). Inside Higher Ed, Sept. 28.

2024–Unlawful Laws: How to Live with Scientific Uncertainty. An open-access, interactive book that uses Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem to explore philosophy of science. dan-li-o.github.io/3body

2024"Climate-Invariant Machine Learning: Insights from Philosophy of Induction." CGD Seminar, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, Jan. 11.
2023"Climate-Invariant Machine Learning" (with Ryan O'Loughlin). GISS Lunch Seminar, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, Dec. 20.
2023"Machines Learn Better with Better Data Ontology." Philosophy@HLRS, High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (online), Aug. 25.
2023"Machines Learn Better with Better Data Ontology." Department of Philosophy, University at Albany, SUNY, Mar. 14.
2023"Machines Learn Better with Better Data Ontology." Department of Philosophy, University of Oregon, Jan. 17.
2021"The Case of the Missing Tree Ring Hypothesis." Norwood Russell Hanson Prize lecture, HPSC Colloquium, Indiana University, Nov. 7.
2021"What Does Philosophy Have to Do with Machine Learning in Climate Science?" iDEAS Seminar, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, Sept. 20.

2021"Tractability Assumptions, Holism, and Model Robustness" (with R. O'Loughlin). Philosophy of Science Association 27th Biennial Meeting.
2021"The Missing Link in Inferences with Climate Networks" (poster). PSA 27th Biennial Meeting.
2021"If a Tree Grows No Rings and No One Is Around" (poster). PSA 27th Biennial Meeting.
2021"Some Models Are Universal and Rare: Does 'Universality' Make a Difference?" 8th Biennial Meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association.
2021"Can We Infer the Absolute Timescale from Paleoclimate Data?" (with R. O'Loughlin). Boston University Philosophy Graduate Conference.
2019"Tractability Assumptions, Holism, and Model Robustness" (with R. O'Loughlin). IU HPSC Women's Leadership Conference.
2017"The Medicalization of Premenstrual Syndrome." 9th Meeting of the International Society for the History of Medicine.

2023–2025PHI 1500 Major Issues in Philosophy (5 sections)
2023–2025PHI 3200 Environmental Ethics, Law, and Public Policy (incl. Honors section)
2023–2025IDC 4010 Locke Interdisciplinary Capstone: Scientific Methods in Paleoclimatology, co-taught with Ana Gonzalez-Nayeck (Natural Sciences)

2022–2023IU Venture Fellow, IU Ventures, Indiana University
- Evaluated start-ups and wrote investment memos.
2020–2022Graduate Research Fellow, Indiana University Network Science Institute
- Modeled climate as networks with faculty from three departments; studied methods in climate science (machine learning and induction, crossdating, Monte Carlo simulation).
2021Visiting Student, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO
- Worked with a regional climate modeler on model translation.
2021Data Analyst and Consultant, Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities, Indiana University
- Network modeling and visualization for research on medieval Japanese history; quantitative-methods support for incubator projects.
2019Student Fellow, Philosophy and Physical Computing Summer Workshop, Virginia Tech

2022Mikal Lynn Sousa Award for Excellence in Graduate Scholarship, Indiana University
2022B. E. Covalt Memorial Fellowship, Indiana University
2021Norwood Russell Hanson Prize for Outstanding Graduate Student Papers, IU HPSC
2020–2022COAS NSF Interdisciplinary Research Training Fellowship (Complex Networks and Systems)
2020–2022Informatics Graduate Support Fellowship and Travel Award
2020Irving and Leno Lo Scholarship
2018–2019COAS Graduate Scholars Fellowship and Travel Award

Languages: Chinese (native), English (fluent), Japanese (intermediate, JLPT N3 level)

Computing: Python (NumPy, pandas, NetworkX, Matplotlib), MATLAB (netCDF, CMIP6 data), Gephi, Quarto, Git/GitHub, AutoCAD