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ATLANTA— Juan S. Piñeros Glasscock, an assistant professor of philosophy whose research focuses on practical intelligence, has been named as one of two recipients of the 2024 Dean’s Early Career Award.
The award recognizes early-career faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences who are emerging leaders in their field of research, scholarship, or creative activity.
At the core of Piñeros Glasscock’s research is the idea that, like our capacity to perceive what’s going on around us, our practical capacity for action also provides us with knowledge. However, this knowledge is special. It is not the detached knowledge that a viewer has of what’s going on in a sports field, but the knowledge of a player who can affect the game itself. Drawing from insights in logic, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and cognitive science, Piñeros Glasscock aims to illuminate the nature and limitations of this practical knowledge. He has written several influential articles on the topic, which form the basis of a book project that he will write as a Humboldt Fellow at the University of Tübingen in Germany, starting in June.
Piñeros Glasscock’s other research interests include Aristotle’s moral psychology, epistemic emotions like surprise, and the way we form beliefs about our friends. He has published and presented research on all these topics in top venues of the field.
In recognition for his research accomplishments, he was honored by Georgia State last year with an inaugural Ignite Early Career Research Impact Award in the area of arts and humanities. He serves as the advisor for the Philosophers’ Forum, Georgia State’s undergraduate philosophy club, and has served on several M.A. thesis committees.
Piñeros Glasscock earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale University and joined Georgia State in 2020 after working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto-Mississauga.
Recipients of the Dean’s Early Career Award are selected based on outstanding achievements in research and teaching, as well as service contributions to Georgia State.
Piñeros Glasscock said he is honored to be recognized with this award.
“Beyond the personal honor I feel for being awarded the prize, I am animated by the more general recognition of humanistic work,” said Piñeros Glasscock. “As W.E.B. Du Bois argued in his reflections about education in Atlanta, technical knowledge needs humanistic knowledge to guide it. As we enter a new technological era in which AI systems become increasingly adept at technical tasks, it will become imperative to understand the point of these endeavors. I am excited to continue to explore such questions with my students, alongside my brilliant and supportive colleagues.”
Piñeros Glasscock added, “I should also express special thanks to one in particular, my wife, Allison. Doing research is easier when we get to discuss our ideas at the dinner table — even when competing for attention with a toddler!”
Andrew I. Cohen, chair of the Department of Philosophy, praised Piñeros Glasscock for being highly deserving of the recognition.
“Our entire department is so proud that Dr. Juan S. Piñeros Glasscock received the Dean’s Early Career Award,” said Cohen. “This recognition is one among many he has received for his outstanding work so early in his highly productive career. He is among the reasons Georgia State has one of the USA’s leading terminal M.A. programs in philosophy. We congratulate him for his continued successes.”
The award is funded by private contributions from members of the college’s Board of Visitors and other donors to support rising stars among the faculty. As part of their recognition, recipients are provided $3,000 in professional development funds.
Learn more about the Dean's Early Career Award at cas.gsu.edu/deans-early-career-award. You may give to the endowment at giving.gsu.edu/020370. To see even more ways donor support is making a meaningful difference at Georgia State, visit giving.gsu.edu.
The other 2024 recipient is Lei Li, Assistant Professor of Chemistry. Read his story here.