Gwendalynn Carlene Roebke

  • DISTRIBUTED STUDIES: ASTROPHYSICS
  • NEUROSCIENCE
  • PHILOSOPHY

Biography:

Gwendalynn is a queer Black/multiracial student from Colorado Springs. From an early age, they found myself interested in absolutely everything; they wanted to know as much as they could about everything they could from history, languages, physics, and more. When they were 17, they were awarded a scholarship to study abroad in Germany for a year which would change their course entirely. They took their first philosophy class in Germany, in German, and they were hooked. After they returned to the USA and started their undergrad at ²ÊÃñ±¦µä, they knew that while they still wanted to study STEM to some degree, philosophy was their passion. As they went into their Sophomore summer, they wrote up a proposal for a distributed/interdisciplinary studies track where they could explore to their heart's content what made/motivated people to ‘be’ in the world. Their ultimate goal is to earn their PhD and become a philosophy professor who encourages people to think outside the box and take risks; they want to be a professor who helps people understand that the pursuit of knowledge can (and should!) be wonderfully messy and that a little failure can breed amazing results. They also want to pave the way for academics to be more active in calls for social justice, and build up greater resources for BIPOC students through creating strong mentorship networks that they can rely on.

Research: 

Their research interests include Existentialism, Philosophy of Mind, and Philosophy of Action.

Research Faculty Mentors:

Gwendalynn's McNair Scholars mentor was Cynthia Villanueva.