Rate My Professor Robert Batterman

Robert Batterman is the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, where he also serves as Professor of History and Philosophy of Science. He previously chaired the Department of Philosophy from 2015 to 2019. Batterman earned his B.A. from Cornell University in 1980, M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1984, and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1987 under advisor Lawrence Sklar. His academic career began with positions at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Urbana-Champaign as Visiting Assistant Professor from 1987 to 1990. He then joined Ohio State University, advancing from Assistant Professor (1990–1995) to Associate Professor (1995–2002) and Professor (2002–2005). From 2005 to 2010, he held a professorship and the Rotman Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Science at Western Ontario University. Since 2010, he has been at the University of Pittsburgh, promoted to Distinguished Professor in 2019.

Batterman's research focuses on the philosophy of physics and philosophy of applied mathematics, particularly in areas such as the foundations of statistical physics, materials science, dynamical systems, chaos, asymptotic reasoning, mathematical idealizations, explanation, reduction, emergence, and the role of mathematics in physical theories. He is the author of two monographs: The Devil in the Details: Asymptotic Reasoning in Explanation, Reduction, and Emergence (Oxford University Press, 2002; paperback 2007) and A Middle Way: A Non-Fundamental Approach to Many-Body Physics (Oxford University Press, 2021). He edited The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Physics (Oxford University Press, 2013). Notable publications include "Minimal Model Explanations" with Collin Rice (Philosophy of Science, 2014), "On the Explanatory Role of Mathematics in Empirical Science" (British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 2010), "Universality and RG Explanations" (Perspectives on Science, 2019), "Biology Meets Physics: Reductionism and Multi-scale Modeling of Morphogenesis" with Sara Green (Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C, 2017), "Steel and Bone: Mesoscale Modeling and Middle-out Strategies in Physics and Biology" with Sara Green (Synthese, 2020), and "Philosophical Implications of Kadanoff’s Work on the Renormalization Group" (Journal of Statistical Physics, 2016). Batterman has received numerous honors, including election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2009, the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring in 2021, and research grants from the National Science Foundation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the John Templeton Foundation.