Embedded within this theme, I focus on transitional periods within the greater history of the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds: the shift from Hellenistic to Roman, Roman to Byzantine, and Byzantine to Islamic civilizations/cultural spheres. What are the implications of transitional trends for technology and trade?

My primary area of expertise is in glassmaking technology and change in the Levant, and I have worked as an artifact supervisor and researcher for a variety of archaeological projects. Conservation is a new aspect of research that I am beginning to integrate into my studies, as materials analysis is closely tied to both preservation and investigation.

Although in the past my work has primarily concentrated on the Greco-Roman period in the greater Mediterranean region, since beginning my studies at Brown I have become fascinated by the Late Antique and the early Medieval or Early Islamic periods — I have focused my research on the Levant in particular, as well as on ‘peripheral’ regions such as al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), the Maghrib of North Africa, and the Silk Road region of Central Asia. Byzantine and Islamic archaeology are (re)emerging fields, in which there are exciting research avenues for exploring cultural interactions across both time and space.