Rosalyn W. Berne, PhD is the Olsson Professor of Applied Ethics,  in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Virginia, soon to retire. She directs the Engineering Character Strength Initiative of the UVA Engineering School and the Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science.

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As an ethics scholar, Berne explores the intersecting realms of emerging and converging technologies, science fiction and myth, and the links between the human and non-human worlds. Her academic books include Animals, Ethics, and Engineering: Intersections & Implications (2025); Creating Life from Life: Biotechnology and Science Fiction (2014); and Nanotalk: Conversations with Scientists and Engineers about Ethics, Meaning, and Belief in the Development of Nanotechnology (2006). Rosalyn also writes in the body-mind-spirit genre, authoring When the Horses Whisper (2013 - - Living Now Book Award) and Waking to Beauty (2016 - - Nautilus Silver Book Award).

 

Rosalyn Berne grew up in Philadelphia PA, before moving with her family to Amherst, Massachusetts. Her adult years have mostly been spent in central Virginia. She has travelled internationally for study, work, and touring, to various parts of East and South Asia, Central and South America, West Africa, and Europe.

 

As an intuitive interspecies communicator, she is particularly attuned to equines and cetaceans.​ In 2012, Rosalyn was riding on horseback, crossing the Arenal River in Costa Rica. She fell off into the river and when she got up and back on she could hear and communicate directly with that horse. The whole story of her newly discovered gift is recounted in When the Horses Whisper. The YouTube video below features Rosalyn Berne, author of When the Horses Whisper, explaining what she does when communicating with horses.