Education
Ph.D. (in progress), Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University
Minors: Religious Studies and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures
Dissertation: “Buddhist and Islamic Scholastic Collaboration in Early Medieval Central Asia and the Near East: A Study of the Transmission of the Doctrine of Momentariness to Early Islamic Theologians”
*Presently Visiting Research Associate at the Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University, Japan, August 2022 – August 2024.
M.A., Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University
M.A., Asian Comparative Studies, California Institute of Integral Studies
M.A., Italian, Middlebury College
CELTA (Cambridge) – Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults
B.A., Classics, Grinnell College
Research Interests
Intellectual history of Buddhism and Islam in Central Asia, with a focus on Buddhist scholasticism from Antiquity through the Middle Ages, early Vajrayāna, early Islamic theology, and the collaborative encounter of Buddhists philosophers with Islamic theologians in the early medieval period. Secondarily engaged in research on the other religious traditions of Central Asia, especially Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Christianity.
Teaching Experience
Associate Instructor under Professor Christopher Beckwith, Indiana University.
Course: Empires of the Silk Road. Spring 2022.
Instructor of Buddhist Studies, International Center for Avataṃsaka Studies, Milpitas, CA.
Course: Buddhism Across Its Diverse Asian Traditions. Fall 2017.
Classroom Instructor of English as a Second Language.
Istanbul, Turkey, Fall 1997 – Spring 1998; Venice, Italy, May – September 1997.
Fellowships
Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Dissertation Fellowship for Buddhist Studies, 2022–23.
FLAS Fellowship for Arabic, 2021–22.
IU Religious Studies Graduate Research Fellowship, Summer 2021.
FLAS Fellowship for Arabic, 2020–21.
FLAS Fellowship for Arabic, Summer 2020.
IU Religious Studies Graduate Research Fellowship, Summer 2020.
FLAS Fellowship for Arabic, 2019–20.
FLAS Fellowship for Arabic, Summer 2019.
FLAS Fellowship for Persian, Spring 2019.
Conference Presentations and Invited Lectures
“An Examination of Variations on the Buddhist Doctrine of Momentariness and Their Transmission to Early Islamic Theologians: Sources, Methods, and Arguments for Establishing a Philosophical Genealogy of Early Islamic Occasionalism,” Faculty Seminar of the Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University, May 2023.
“A Mahāyoga Tantric Perspective on the Doctrine of Momentariness in the Guhyagarbha-tantra,” The 28th Annual Association of Central Eurasian Students Conference, Indiana University, February 2022.
“The Soteriological Force of al-Māturīdī’s Ontology and Its Roots in Central Asian Buddhist Scholastic Philosophy,” The 55th Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, Montreal, November 2021.
“An Exploration of the Soteriological Agenda of al-Māturīdī’s Kalām,” God and the Structure of the World in Ibn ‘Arabī and al-Māturīdī, Center for the Study of the Middle East, Indiana University, November 2021.
“The Role of Mithra Among Early-Medieval Iranian Buddhists: Evidence and Rationale for Mithra’s Key Role in the Taking of Buddhist Vows,” The 26th Annual Association of Central Eurasian Students Conference, Indiana University, February 2020.
“The Legitimacy of Belief and Its Political Dimensions: Evidence for the Central Asian Transmission of the Buddhist Doctrine of Momentariness and Its Role in the Formation of the Islamic Doctrine of Occasionalism,” The 25th Annual Association of Central Eurasian Students Conference, Indiana University, February 2019.
“Evolution of the Text of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra (Huayanjing) across Its Chinese Translations,” Dimensions of Huayan Buddhism Symposium, San Jose State University, May 2017.
Manuscript Reviews
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
East Asian Journal of Philosophy
Languages
Sanskrit
Tibetan
Arabic
Chinese
Greek
Latin
Italian
French
Aramaic (basic)
Persian (basic)
English (native)