About Me

My name is Will Riley. I wear multiple hats as a researcher, teacher, designer, software engineer, and writer.

I recently accepted a position as a Research & Development Software Developer at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research at Wageningen University & Research (WUR). The position will begin in early November, 2021.

In general, I am interested in empirical approaches to studying food ethics. Recently, I’ve been thinking about questions at the intersection of information policy and food ethics, such as: What information about food systems do different stakeholders believe would be helpful in making ethical decisions about the production, consumption, and disposal of food?

Check me out on LinkedIn.

Academic Background

I graduated with a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (Applied Cognition and Development) from the University of Georgia. My dissertation research examined how people make moral judgments about consumer behaviors, like eating meat and using plastic straws, which indirectly harm animals, and whether beliefs about the minds of animals influences those judgments. Specifically, I tested whether attributing mental capacities to animals increases our moral concern for harming them. My advisor was Dr. Leonard Martin.

I also have a M.S. in Digital Media from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B.A. in Philosophy from Reed College. In addition, I’ve completed undergraduate and graduate coursework in psychology, informatics, statistics, public health, and literature from the University of Michigan, George Mason University, Portland State University, University of North Dakota, and Georgia State University.