Jennifer Lorraine Musk
MS Physics, PhD-in-Progress, Philosophy of Science, University of Kansas

My doctoral dissertation in Philosophy of Science concerns the limits of mechanistic explanation and the insufficience of "mechanism" as a fundamental unit of scientific explanation.

More broadly, I study models of scientific explanation, the foundation of meaning, epistemology and ontology of physical systems especially in field theories and quantum systems. Semiotics and semantics, chaos and creation in the backyard and calamity physics are  more than hobbies, but the foundation of my work in the vein of Leonard Cohen on "saints", such as Tekakwitha.

I am partial to the work of Julian Jaynes, and work with Dr. Symons on many interesting projects. My husband,
Lu Semita, is an artist of games and comics in the vein of Sierra .
My past bursts of work on the "theory of everything" (see 2014 movie about Stephen Hawking--my undergraduate mentor, Keith Ashman's--grandmentor) has inspired physicists as varied as Menas Kafatos and Lawrence Krauss. ) I have studied since the age of fifteen in an email chain with Jack Sarfatti, the inspiration for Doc Brown from Back to the Future, and Nick Herbert, the author of Elemental Mind.

I hail from mathematical physics (at UMKC, graduate, 2010) and  pursue secondary projects in high energy particle physics (with Michael Murray and James Bowen) and pursue work in philosophy of scientific practice (with at Joey Orr at the Spencer Museum of Art).

My other philosophical interests include the ethics of technology / AI, ethics of gaming (especially ARGs, VR and online gaming), 12th century philosophy,  early modern enlightenment philosophy, and contemporary philosophy of sex and gender. 

My husband Lu Semita is a quite amazing programmer and general software guy you'll learn more about soon.

Reach me at JLNielsen@KU.edu, check out my CV here (which needs updating),  or tweet me at @qualiaquanta  or @startigerjln . You'll hear more about me soon. Stay tuned!