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Jessica Ruffin is a critical philosopher, media historian, and moving-image enthusiast. Her research and creative scholarly output focus on ethics, environmental problems, and historical relations. She has a particular interest in the aesthetics of Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche, exploring how they resonate with Black and Indigenous thought. Ruffin's current book project, "Becoming Amphibious," addresses the ethics of white supremacist worlding through an auto-philosophical genealogy that interweaves German aesthetics, Black studies, paleontology, and media philosophy in search of ethical movements suitable to contemporary crises. She has published essays in New German Critique and Millennium Film Journal and was the associate producer for Aubin Pictures' documentary "Born Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity". She returned to academia in 2015 after a stint in film production, holds a PhD in Film and Media from the University of California, Berkeley (2021), and previously earned an MA in German Literature and Culture (2018) and an MA in Humanities (2008) from the University of Chicago. Ruffin is a fellow at the Michigan Society and currently holds a position as Assistant Professor in Film, Television, and Media at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.