Robert Streiffer

Biography

Robert Streiffer's research includes bioethics (both medical and agricultural), ethical theory, metaethics, and political philosophy, with a focus on ethical and policy issues arising from modern biotechnology. He is currently working in two areas.The first is on ethical and policy issues arising from the creation of chimeras, organisms with parts from different species, through the xenotransplantation of human stem cells into animals that are in the embryonic or early fetal stages of development. The second is on ethical and policy issues arising from the application of biotechnology to animals in agriculture. He has served on the Health Sciences Institute Review Board and is presently serving on the UW Hospital Ethics Committee, UW's Biotechnology Advisory Committee, and UW's Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee.

Education

Ph.D. Massachussetts Institute of Technology, ethics, 1999

B.A. Reed College, philosophy, 1993

Professional Experience

Associate Professor, Department of Medical History and Bioethics; Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, UW-Madison, 2006-present.

Affiliate Appointment, The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, UW-Madison, 2006-present.

Affiliate Appointment, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, UW-Madison 2005-present.

Affiliate Appointment, Department of Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, UW-Madison, 2002-present.

Assistant Professor, Department of Medical History and Bioethics; Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, UW-Madison, 1999-2006.

Honors and Awards

Honors
Phi Beta Kappa, Reed College, Portland Oregon, 1993.

Fellowships and Grants

2008- "What Is Human?" An interdisciplinary humanities and science initiative at the Center for the Humanities in the College of Letters and Sciences, supported by the Robert F. and Jean E. Holtz Fund of the University of Wisconsin Foundation. Member of the transplantation and chimera working group.

2008-2009 UW Research Sabbatical support for At the Edge of Humanity: Modern Biotechnology and the Animal/Human Divide. PI

2008 Graduate School Research Competition, UW-Madison. $8,006 for research support on At the Edge of Humanity: Modern Biotechnology and the Animal/Human Divide. PI

2007 Graduate School Research Competition, UW-Madison. $8,006 for research support on "Moral Status: Clarifying the Concept." PI

2007-2008 Kellogg Foundation planning grant for developing a multi-year series of workshops on animal science, animal welfare, and agricultural ethics. $100,000, for 1 year. Not funded. PI

2006-2011 NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates grant proposal for developing an integrated biological sciences summer research program for undergraduates. PI is Janet Branchaw, UW-Madison. I am serving as a consultant on the project to help develop interdisciplinary ethics materials for incorporation into the program. Total grant proposal is for $425,000.

2006-2007 Graduate School Research Competition, UW-Madison. $7,065 for research support on animal welfare and biotechnology. PA Funding for 9 months, at 33%. PI

2006-2011 NSF Interdisciplinary Graduate Research Education and Training grant proposal for developing a curriculum on biological conservation and sustainable development in Yunnan, China. PI, Josh Posner at UW-Madison. Funding for development of ethics teaching materials, two trips to Yunnan, China, and possible graduate student support. Total grant proposal is for $3,099,426.

2005-2006 Graduate School Research Competition, UW-Madison. $14,354 for research support on "At the Edge of Humanity: Human Stem Cells, Chimeras, and Moral Status," published in The Kennedy Institute of Ethics and forthcoming in Ethics and the Life Sciences (Charlottesville, Virginia: Philosophy Documentation Center). PI

2005-2008 NSF Ethics Education in Science and Engineering Program. A Model Curriculum for Land Grant Universities in Research Ethics. PI, Gary Comstock, North Carolina State University. Total grant award is for $250,000. UW portion of the grant is approximately $24,000. I am the Institutional Leader for UW-Madison, and am a member of the grant steering committee.

2003 Graduate School Research Competition, UW-Madison. $7,800 for research support on "Democratic Principles and Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Engineered Food," published in Public Affairs Quarterly. PI

2002 Graduate School Research Competition, UW-Madison. $6,500 for research support on "The Political Import of Intrinsic Objections to Genetically Engineered Food," published in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. PI

2000-2004, USDA/IFAFS. Consortium to Address Social, Economic, and Ethical Aspects of Biotechnology. PI, Donna Hess, South Dakota State University. Total grant award was for $3.5 million. I was responsible for the bioethics component at UW-Madison. UW-Madison bioethics portion of the grant was $152,000 for research support, research assistant support, and one Bioethics Institute.

Publications

Books and Edited Volumes

Robert Streiffer. Moral Relativism and Reasons for Action (Studies in Ethics). New York: Routledge, 2003.

Articles Published in the Last 10 Years

Streiffer, Robert. Forthcoming. “Animal Biotechnology and the Non-Identity Problem.” Peer Commentary in American Journal of Bioethics.

Streiffer, Robert. "Informed Consent and Federal Funding for Stem Cell Research." Hastings Center Report 38(3): 40-47. 2008.

Streiffer, Robert. "Wittgenstein on the General Form of a Proposition." Analysis and Metaphysics 6: 468-472, 2007,

Streiffer, Robert (lead author), Alan Rubel, and Julie Fagan. "Medical Privacy and the Public’s Right to Vote: What Presidential Candidates Should Disclose." The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy31: 417-439, 2006.

Streiffer, Robert. "Academic Freedom and Industry-Imposed Restrictions on Academic Biotechnology Research." The Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 16(2): 129-149, 2006

Streiffer, Robert. "At the Edge of Humanity: Human Stem Cells, Chimeras, and Moral Status." The Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 15(4): 347-370, 2005. Also forthcoming in Ethics and the Life Sciences, ed. F. Adams, Special Supplement, Journal of Philosophical Research. Charlottesville, Virginia: Philosophy Documentation Center Press.

Streiffer, Robert. "An Ethical Analysis of Ojibway Objections to Genomics and Genetics Research on Wild Rice." Philosophy in the Contemporary Worldspecial issue on the ownership of common goods 12(2): 37-45, 2005.

Streiffer, Robert (lead author) and Thomas Hedemann. "The Political Import of Intrinsic Objections to Genetically Engineered Food." The Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 18(2): 191-210, 2005.

Rubel, Alan (lead author) and Robert Streiffer. "Respecting the Autonomy of European and American Consumers: Defending Positive Labels on GM Foods." The Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 18(1): 75-84, 2005.

Streiffer, Robert (lead author) and Alan Rubel. "Democratic Principles and Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Engineered Food."Public Affairs Quarterly 18(3): 223-248, 2004.

Streiffer, Robert. 2003. “In Defense of the Moral Relevance of Species Boundaries.” Peer commentary in American Journal of Bioethics 3(3): 37-38. Also forthcoming in The Animal Ethics Reader, 2nd Edition, ed. S. Armstrong and R. Botzer. Routledge Press.

Streiffer, Robert (lead author), and Alan Rubel. "Choice Versus Autonomy in the GM Food Labeling Debate." AgBioForum6(3): 141-42, 2003

Publications: Refereed Book Chapters

Streiffer, Robert (lead author) and Alan Rubel. 2007. “Genetically Engineered Animals and the Ethics of Food Labeling,” In The Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods, in Oxford University Press’s series Environmental Ethics and Science Policy, ed. P. Weirich. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 63-87.

Publications: Book Reviews

Streiffer, Robert. Book Review of Gary Comstock’s "Vexing Nature? The Ethical Case against Agricultural Biotechnology." Environmental Ethics 27(2): 213-216, 2005.

Works in Progress

“Chimeras,” for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Streiffer, Robert. “Moral Status: Clarifying the Concept.”

Streiffer, Robert. “Altered Nuclear Transfer.”

Streiffer, Robert. “Chimeras, Abortions, and Legitimacy: Implications of the Abortion Debate for Public Policy on Animal/Human Chimera Research.”

At the Edge of Humanity: Modern Biotechnology and the Animal/Human Divide

Agricultural Biotechnology: The Ethical and Policy Issues.

“The Welfare Argument for Diminished Animals.”

“Genetically Engineered Foods, Consumer Sovereignty, and the Democratic Impulse,” with Jeff Burkhardt.

Current Research Projects/Interests

Abstract ethical theory, political philosophy; ethical and political issues related to agricultural biotechnology.

Courses Taught

Undergraduate

• 558: Ethical Problems Raised by Biomedical Technology
• 565: The Ethica of Modern Biotechnology

Graduate

• MHB 999, Hort 875, Agron 875: Research Ethics