UGUR ALTUNDAL, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Altundal’s interests include contemporary political philosophy, democracy, citizenship, immigration and open borders.
AYKUT OZTURK, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Ozturk’s research interests encompass democratization, populism political psychology, and Islamist movements.
PEDRAM MAGHSOUD-NIA, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Maghsoud-Nia’s research interests include state and society relations, political economy of development, Middle East politics, and social theory.
DARCI PAUSER, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Pauser’s research interests include transboundary water issues, natural resource policy and management, international environmental agreements, science and technology politics and policy, environmental security, Turkey, Israel, and the Middle East.
ELIZABETH DAVIS, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Davis’s current research interests include diaspora and democracy in the Middle East and North Africa, comparative migration policy, and gender and migration.
RAZA RAJA, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Raja’s research interests include political economy of development finance, public policy, and politics in Middle East and South Asia.
ESRA EKINCI, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Ekinci’s interests include political institutions,democratization, electoral systems and political parties.
KATHARINE RUSSELL, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Russell’s research interests include politics of the Middle East, with an emphasis on women’s issues.
ABOLGHASEM BAYYENAT,POLITICAL SCIENCE
Bayyenat’s research interests include state identity discourses and foreign policy; international relations of the Middle East; foreign policy of Iran; political economy of the international trade system and development; and politics of national and subnational identities.
IVY RAINES, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Raines’s research interests center on post-conflict nation building with a focus on identity politics and political institutions. With her primary regional focus on the Arab World,her other areas of interest include Post-Soviet politics, China/Hong Kong/Taiwan Relations, and Cyprus.
SEFA SECEN, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Secen’s research interests include refugees, human rights, ethnicity and nationalism, Middle Eastern and European Politics.
PRAKHAR SHARMA, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Sharma’s dissertation focuses on explaining the heterogeneity of preferences among civilians regarding service provision in a civil war context, with Afghanistan serving as a principal case.
MOHAMMAD EBAD ATHAR, HISTORY
Athar’s research interests include U.S. and the World; U.S. and the Middle East; Empire.
REBECCA MOODY, RELIGION
Moody’s primary research interests reside at the intersection of religion, cultural studies, feminist theory, film theory, affect theory and ethnography.
MEHDI NEJATBAKHSH, SOCIOLOGY
Nejatbakhsh’s research interests include globalization, cosmopolitanism, national and cultural identity, political sociology, immigration and diaspora, the Middle East and Iran.
DUYGU YENI CENEBASI, RELIGION
Cenebasi’s research focuses on religion and feminism; gender and sacred texts; Jewish, Christian and Muslim women’s theologies; and women’s and minority literature in the MENA region.
NASTASSIA VAITSIAKHOVICH, SOCIOLOGY
Vaitsiakhovich’s research interests include gender and disability studies, social theory, social policy, migration, qualitative research, and Middle East studies.
SULE AKSOY,COLLEGE SCIENCE TEACHING
Aksoy’s research interests include socio-scientific issues-based science education, teacher education, science teachers’ beliefs, nature of science, STEM education, and learning science in informal environments.
AHMET CELIK, RELIGION
Celik’s research focuses on the relationship between law and politics in Islamic history, particularly the 16th-century Ottoman Empire.
SHAUNDEL SANCHEZ, ANTHROPOLOGY
Sanchez’s dissertation examines the question of belonging for U.S.-citizen Muslim residents in the United Arab Emirates. This research analyzes the community as its members travel between their country of citizenship and a Muslim majority country where many have resided for over 20 years.
M.OWAIS KHAN, RELIGION
Khan’s research interests include early modern Islamic political theology and practice in the Indian Ocean.
LAUREN MCCORMICK, RELIGION
McCormick’s research focuses on Biblical studies, ancient Near Eastern studies, material culture (specifically, discerning creativity within repetitious art forms).
NATALIE EL-EID, ENGLISH
El-Eid’s research interests include Arab-American and ethnic literature, particularly in respect to war, trauma, gender, sexuality and diaspora. While engaging various types of media, she intends to analyze Western perspectives of Arabic culture, dominantly through representations of Arab males and females post-9/11, as well as the construction of the diasporic identity in the U.S.