Education: Ph.D., Duke University; M.S., Duke University; J.D. New York University

Office: STH 536A
Email: powell@bu.edu

Rachell Powell, Ph.D. J.D. M.S. is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Boston University. Prior to her appointment at BU, Dr. Powell was an Arts and Humanities Research Council Fellow in the Faculty of Philosophy, and a James Martin Research Fellow in the Institute for Science and Ethics, at Oxford University. Before her time at Oxford, Dr. Powell was a Greenwall Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy and a Senior Research Scholar in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University.

Dr. Powell holds advanced degrees in philosophy of science, evolutionary biology and law. She received her B.A. in philosophy (summa cum laude, phi beta kappa) from SUNY Binghamton (1999), a Juris Doctor (with honors) from NYU Law School (2002), and a Ph.D. in Philosophy and M.S. in Biology from Duke University (2009). Prior to commencing graduate work in philosophy, then R. Powell, Esq. worked as an attorney (Associate) in the New York office of the global law firm Skadden Arps on complex pharmaceutical liability litigation.

As a result of this diverse background, Dr. Powell’s academic interests are wide-ranging and highly interdisciplinary. She has published in areas ranging from the philosophy of biology and bioethics to political and legal philosophy, in journals such as British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Journal of Philosophy, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Biology and Philosophy, European Journal for the Philosophy of Science, American Journal of Bioethics, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Journal of Political Philosophy, and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal. In addition to continuing work on conceptual and methodological problems in evolutionary theory, Dr. Powell actively researches and publishes on the epistemological and metaphysical dimensions of debates in contemporary bioethics, especially in relation to emerging biotechnologies.

Dr. Powell is currently serving as Guest Editor for two Special Journal Issues: One for Philosophy and Technology on genetic engineering, and one for Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Science on synthetic biology. She is also co-editing a book with Oxford University Press on scientific explanations of religion and religious conflict, and she is currently Associate Editor for the Journal of Medical Ethics, which is part of the British Medical Journal Group.

Dr. Powell has been awarded fellowships at the National Humanities Center and the American Council of Learned Societies. In 2011, Dr. Powell was selected for an American Council of Learned Societies New Faculty Fellow Award, which she declined in order to take up her present position at BU.