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Kristin Shrader-Frechette

Kristin Shrader-Frechette

Title

O'Neill Family Professor of Philosophy and Concurrent Professor of Biological Sciences

Contact Information

Mailing Address:
Department of Philosophy
University of Notre Dame
100 Malloy Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556

E-Mail: kshrader@nd.edu

Homepage: www.nd.edu/~kshrader

Office: 211 Malloy
Office Hours: 2:00 - 3:15 M, T, or by appointment.

Education

Ph.D., University of Notre Dame

Areas of Interest

Philosophy of Science, Ethics, Quantitative Risk Assessment

Profile

Recent Articles:

  • “Symmetrical Transparency in Science,” coauthored with N. Oreskes,Science 332, no. 6030 (6 May 2011): 663-664.
  • “Technocratic Threats to Human Rights,” in Cindy Holder and David Reidy (eds), Human Rights: The Hard Questions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
  • “Nuclear Waste: Knowledge Waste,” coauthored with G. Rosa, et al.,Science 329, no. 5993 (13 August 2010): 762-63.
  • "Conceptual Analysis and Special-Interest Science: Toxicology and the Case of Edward Calabrese," Synthese 177 (2010): 449-469.
  • "Greenhouse Emissions and Nuclear Energy," Modern Energy Review 1, no. 1 (August  2009): 54-57.
  • “Statistical Significance in Biology: Neither Necessary Nor Sufficient for Hypothesis-Acceptance,” Biological Theory 3, no. 1 (2008): 12-16.
  • "Ideological Toxicology: Invalid Logic, Science, and Ethics about Low-Dose Exposures," Biological Effects of Low-Level Exposures 14, no. 4 (January 2008): 3-47; reprinted  in Human and Experimental Toxicology 27 (2008): 647-57.
  • "Relative Risk and Methodological Rules for Causal Inferences," Biological Theory 2, no. 4 (2007): 332-336.
  • "Trimming Exposure Data, Putting Radiation Workers at Risk: Improving Disclosure and Consent through a National Radiation Dose Registry," American Journal of Public Health 97, no. 9 (2007), 1782-1786.
  • "Human Rights and Duties to Alleviate Environmental Injustice," Journal of Human Rights 6 (2007): 1- 24.
  • “Comparativist Philosophy of Science and Population Viability Assessment in Biology," Philosophy  of  Science 73, no. 5 (December 2006): 817-828.
  • "Natural Rights and Human Vulnerability," in John Inglis (ed.), Aquinas (volume in International Library of Essays in the History of Social and Political Thought) (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2006), pp. 261-286.

Books:

  • What Will Work: Fighting Climate Change with Renewable Energy, Not Nuclear Power (2011)
  • Taking Action, Saving Lives: Our Duties to Protect Environmental and Public Health (2007)
  • Environmental  Justice (2003); Italian translation forthcoming
  • Technology and Values, coeditor (1997)
  • The Ethics of Scientific Research (1994)
  • Method in Ecology, coauthored with E. McCoy (1993)
  • Burying Uncertainty: Risk and the Case Against Geological Disposal of Nuclear Waste (1993)
  • Policy for Land: Law and Ethics, coauthored with L. Caldwell (1993)
  • Expert Judgment in Assessing Radwaste Risks (1992)
  • Risk and Rationality (1991); Italian translation (1993), Japanese translation (2007)
  • Nuclear Energy and Ethics (1991)
  • Risk Analysis and Scientific Method (1985)
  • Science Policy, Ethics, and Economic Methodology (1985); Italian translation forthcoming
  • Four Methodological Assumptions in Risk-Cost-Benefit Analysis (1983)
  • Environmental Ethics (1981, 1998); Japanese translation (1992); Korean translation forthcoming
  • Nuclear Power and Public Policy (1980, 1983); Spanish translation (1983)

Additional Information:

Besides her degrees in mathematics and in philosophy, Shrader-Frechette did postdoctoral work for 2, 1, and 2 years, respectively, in biology, economics, and hydrogeology. She held professorships at the University of California and the University of Florida. For 28 years, the US NSF has funded Shrader-Frechette’s research, and recently she finished work as PI on a $224,000 NSF grant on ethical/scientific issues associated with worker exposure to ionizing radiation. Shrader-Frechette has authored more than 380 scholarly articles and 16 books, and her work has been translated into 13 different languages. The national academies of science of three nations have asked her to address them, and she was the first female President of three groups--the Society for Philosophy and Technology (SPT), the Risk Assessment and Policy Association (RAPA), and the International Society for Environmental Ethics (ISEE). Serving on the editorial boards of 22 professional journals, she also has been an advisor to, or member of, many boards/committees, including those of the US National Academy of Sciences, US Environmental Protection Agency, National Council on Radiation Protection, Philosophy of Science Association, American Philosophical Association, World Congress of Philosophy, UN, WHO, and International Commission on Radiological Protection. In 2004 Shrader-Frechette became only the third American to win the World Technology Award in Ethics. In 2007,Catholic Digest named her one of 12 "Heroes for the US and the World" because of her pro-bono environmental-justice (EJ) work with minority and poor communities.  In 2011, Tufts University gave her the Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award for her research and pro-bono public-health and EJ work.

Website: http://www.nd.edu/~kshrader/