BIO
Dr. Vida Yao is currently an associate professor of philosophy at the University of California - Los Angeles. From 2016-2022, she was assistant professor of philosophy at Rice University. She was born in 1987 in Vancouver, Canada to a mother who worked for the Immigrant Services Society in British Columbia and a father who worked in civil engineering. She spent most of her childhood and early adult life in Canada with an older brother; she recalled having many pets and growing up in a community where she did not find many others of the same ethnic background as herself. After studying Philosophy at both the University of British Columbia (during which she was a Fulbright-Killam Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley) and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Dr. Yao joined Rice with a specialization in ethics, moral psychology, and moral theory. This interview covers a large amount of Dr. Yao’s childhood and early experiences in between living in Canada and visiting China occasionally. It then transitions into her academic interests and the beginning of her experiences in Houston and at Rice University, all tied together by her interest in the intersection of philosophy and psychology. The interview especially examines Dr. Yao’s thoughts on various ethical questions and the importance of philosophy (and humanistic ethics) across a variety of applications. It also covers challenges and pressures she has faced in her career, and points where she has found support and community among these experiences. Finally, Dr. Yao discusses values, identity, and issues of heritage and place.