Michael Christian Jurlando

My research brings political theory and conceptual analysis to psychedelic studies, with particular attention to how the field understands, measures, and responds to adverse experiences. My work on the psychedelic safety net examines how peer-support, clinical, harm-reduction, and research organizations can better coordinate care for people experiencing persistent post-psychedelic difficulties. I am also coordinating a comparative case series investigating severe and prolonged sleep dysregulation following psychedelic use. Other current projects explore the language of psychedelic suffering and beliefs about supernatural harm. More broadly, I am interested in how scientific categories shape what researchers and clinicians are able to recognize, investigate, and treat.

Christian Jurlando is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Writing and Humanities at Stevens Institute of Technology. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and an MPhil in Political Theory from the University of Oxford. He teaches first-year writing and humanities courses organized around questions of knowledge, mortality, meaning, technology, and intellectual agency, as well as courses in political theory. His broader interests include humanities pedagogy, critical approaches to artificial intelligence, and the conceptual and ethical dimensions of psychedelic science.

Christian Jurlando is in his ninth year at Stevens, having joined the university in 2018. He served as a Lecturer in the Freshman Experience Program from 2018 to 2022 and has been a Teaching Assistant Professor of Writing and Humanities since 2022. His teaching includes HASS 103, HASS 105, and HSS 366, Political Theory. Before joining Stevens, he taught at Rutgers University, Temple University, Franklin & Marshall College, and the University of Pennsylvania.​​

Invited expert, SAMHSA consultation, “Addressing Data Gaps to Monitor the Expanding Use and Misuse of Psychedelics in the U.S.,” Rockville, Maryland, July 2026. Contributed to discussions among researchers, federal agency representatives, and state regulators concerning psychedelic-use surveillance, adverse-event reporting, and gaps in national data collection. Available for consultation on extended post-psychedelic difficulties, psychedelic safety and harm reduction, adverse-event recognition and reporting, and the development of coordinated systems of post-psychedelic care.​​

Teaching Assistant Professor of Writing and Humanities, Stevens Institute of Technology, 2022–present

Lecturer, Freshman Experience Program, Stevens Institute of Technology, 2018–2022

Alvin Z. Rubenstein Award for Teaching Excellence, University of Pennsylvania, 2014

School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Completion Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, 2010–2011

Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, 2009–2010

Salvatori Research Award, University of Pennsylvania Center for Italian Studies, 2009

School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Research Summer Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, 2009

Benjamin Franklin Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, 2004–2009

HASS 103: Writing and Communication
HASS 105: Knowledge, Nature, Culture
HSS 366: Political Theory