I am a historian of Late Antiquity broadly interested in the religious and environmental history of the Eastern Mediterranean. I am particularly interested in the interactions between Christians and Muslims in the very early Islamic period, the influence of Christian traditions on the material of the Qur'ān, the evolution of Christian groups in the Near East up to the Abbasid era, and the study of Christian Arabic and Syriac. I also take an interest in the environmental history of the period, studying demography, epidemiology, the biological standard of living, diet and nutrition, and the impacts of the environment on the broader narrative of history.

In past projects I have worked on a Christian apocryphal text known as the Arabic Infancy Gospel (Injīl al-ṭufūlīya), investigating its sources and the milieu of the author, as well as looking at parallels between this text and similar traditions found in the Qur'ān. I have also worked on the biological standard of living and the epidemiological environment in the wake of the Justinianic plague in southern Gaul, Italy, and Croatia, looking at evidence such as changes in diet and the average stature of populations in these regions.

Education and Background

I received a B.A. in History and Religious Studies, minor in Arabic, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Oklahoma in 2014. I came to Princeton in the Fall of 2014, and am currently taking pre-generals coursework. I plan on taking general exams at the end of Spring 2016.

I am a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where I was born and raised until I was shipped off to the distant land of Norman, Oklahoma, where I studied as an undergraduate. I had the fortune of studying Arabic intensively one summer at the University of Texas at Austin. I have also lived and studied in Bordeaux, France.

I welcome emails from prospective graduate students interested in applying to Princeton or who have already been admitted and simply want to learn more about the university and the graduate student community here.