Biografía

Levis Ignacio Zerpa Morloy studied symbolic logic, philosophy, and computing in both Venezuela and the United States; obtained a Master Degree in Symbolic Logic with a thesis on logical aspects of artificial neural networks published as a book by the Central University of Venezuela, and a PhD in philosophy at the University of Kentucky, USA, in 2011 with a dissertation on interrogative symbolic logic (formal systems with questions and answers) and Hintikka’s interrogative model of inquiry published by ProQuest. He has been a visiting professor at Stony Brook University, New York, and developed a research and teaching career at the Central University of Venezuela and the Catholic University “Andrés Bello”, Venezuela from 1989 to 2001, as well as the Department of Philosophy of the University of Kentucky, from 2004 to 2011. He was also a consultant and developer for the computer company Celedatos, C.A., Venezuela for several years. He joined Yachay Tech in 2014. He has participated twice in the International Congress on Tools for Teaching Logic (Salamanca and Rennes), the SAI Computing Conference (London), and the 15th Congress on Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science in Helsinki, Finland; he has also been a reviewer for The Learner and the International Journal of Science, Mathematics, and Technology Learning, among other publications. He is also a member of the Association for Symbolic Logic, the American Philosophical Association, and the Association for Computer Machinery. He has recently worked as coordinator of internships and linkage of the joint career in Experimental Sciences with the National University of Education (UNAE) between 2021 and 2022, directed several doctoral and undergraduate thesis in diverse fields and participated in the founded project with CEDIA, University of Cuenca and Carchi Polytechnic on innovation and university spinoffs. He published a book on the lambda calculus as major model for logic, analytic philosophy, computability, and complexity theories reviewed by top researchers on the field as well as a book on parallel programming for the SAT problem in MPI. He currently works on a new book on the lambda calculus and another I deontic logic and robot ethics and he is the director of the Russell EduTech (educational technology) linkage project of Yachay Tech-UNAE and a research project for Yachay Tech on applications of the lambda calculus in analytic philosophy, symbolic logic, and functional programming.

 

Current Research projects

• Analytic philosophy and symbolic logic
• Logical and philosophical aspects of the lambda calculus
• Philosophy of logic, mathematics, and science
• Computer-supported collaborative learning and educational technology
• Deontic logic, formal, and robot ethics
• Innovation, especially social innovation and university spinoffs
• Modal and intensional logics and their philosophical and linguistic applications
• Automated reasoning and computational logic

 

Selected Publications

Books:

• Zerpa, L. & Narváez, R. (2022). Computability and Computational Complexity: A Practical Introduction to the Mathematical Theory of Computing (2da edición). Graficolor. [ISBN # 978-9942-8747-3-3].
• Zerpa, L. & Narváez, R. (2022). A Practical Introduction to Parallel Programming in C with MPI (2da edición). Graficolor. [ISBN # 978-9942-8747-4-0]. AFILIACIÓN YACHAY
• Zerpa, L. (2011).  The Interrogative Approach to Inquiry: A Defense of Moderate Contextualism in the Theory of Questions. [Doctoral Dissertation, University of Kentucky]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, UMI 3579365.
• Zerpa, L. (2001). Fundamentos Lógicos de las Redes Neurales Artificiales. Cuadernos de Postgrado, Universidad Central de Venezuela. [ISBN # 980-00-1926-X. 2001].

Articles:

• Zerpa, L. (2021). The Teaching and Learning of   the Untyped Lambda Calculus Through Web-Based e-Learning Tools. In: K. Arai (ed.) Intelligent Computing: Proceedings of the 2021 Computing Conference, Volume 3, 15-16 July 2021 (pp. 433-450). Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, # 285. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80129-8_30.
• Zerpa, L. (2017, July). The Message-Passing Interface and Parallel SAT-Solvers. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Future Networks and Distributed Systems (pp. 1-7). Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1145/3102304.3102336.
• Zerpa, L. (2017). El estudio lógico de la Interrogación: Una introducción a la Lógica Interrogativa y algunas de sus aplicaciones. Lógoi. Revista de Filosofía, (27), 60-80.  Available at: https://revistasenlinea.saber.ucab.edu.ve/index.php/logoi/article/view/3236
• Zerpa, L. (2016). Proof strategies and automated advice: A proof format for education-oriented computer systems. In: 2016 Future Technologies Conference (FTC) (pp. 89-93). IEEE. doi: 10.1109/FTC.2016.7821594.
• Zerpa, L. (2016). The reification of mathematical notions in mathematics education: A four-stage model of concept development. The International Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology learning, 24(1), 1-14. doi:10.18848/2327-7971/CGP/v24i01/1-14.
• Zerpa, L. (2015). The Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma as an Interrogative Game. In: Book of Abstracts of the 15th Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science and Logic Colloquium 2015, Helsinki, Finland, 3-8 August 2015, (pp.  253-254). University of Helsinki. Available at: http://clmps.helsinki.fi/materials/CLMPS_LC_book%20of%20abstracts%2029.7.2015.pdf
• Zerpa, L. (2015). Using interrogative logic to teach classical logic. In: A. Huertas, J. Marcos, M. Manzano, S. Pinchinat, F. Schwarzentruber  (eds.) Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Tools for Teaching Logic (TTL2015),   Rennes, France, 9-12 June 2015, (pp. 281-286). Université de Rennes.
• Zerpa, L. (2013). ¿Qué es la concepción interrogativa de la investigación? Revista UCSAR. Investigaciones de las Ciencias Sociales, 4(7), 151-174.
• Zerpa, L. (2007). Outline of a game-theoretical  approach to the philosophy of science based on the hawk-dove game. Albanian Journal of Politics, 3(1), 7-21. Available on the EBSCO HOST network: https://essentials.ebsco.com/
• Zerpa, L. (2001). ¿Son posibles las divergencias genuinas en lógica? Lógoi. Revista de Filosofía, (4), 59-79. Available at: https://revistasenlinea.saber.ucab.edu.ve/index.php/logoi/article/view/508/504
• Zerpa, L. (2000). The Formal Specification of Systems and the Teaching of Logic. In: Manzano, M. (Ed.) Proceedings of the First International Congress on Tools for Teaching Logic, Salamanca, Spain, June 14-17, 2000, p. 181-5 available in ARACNE and in Summa Logicae: http://aracne.usal.es/congress/PDF/LevisZerpa.pdf, http://logicae.usal.es/mambo/index.php?option=com