EDUCATION
2019-2021 (partial coursework)
M.A., East Asian Languages and Cultures
Florida State University
2016-2019
M.A., Religion
Florida State University
2010-2014
B.A., History / Religious Studies
Stetson University
RESEARCH THEMES
Visual Culture
Identity Formation
Anti-State Resistance
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Winter 2024-present
Associate Recruiter
Rocket Science Corporation
Spring 2022-Winter 2024
Administrative Coordinator
Center of Excellence in Digital Game Development
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Rensselaer To Host GameFest 2023 on April 29 in Troy
- Empire State Development Announces New York State Opens Its First-Ever Statewide Pavilion at the Game Developers Conference in California
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
(INSTRUCTOR OF RECORD)
Fall 2021
Religious Ethics and Moral Problems
Florida State University
Summer 2018-Spring 2021
Multicultural Dimensions of Film and 20th Century Culture
Florida State University
Spring 2018
Religion and 20th Century Fantasy Literature
Florida State University
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
(TEACHING ASSISTANT)
Religion and 20th Century Fantasy Literature
Florida State University
Religious Ethics and Moral Problems
Florida State University
Zen Buddhism
Vanderbilt University
Self and World (First-Year Seminar)
Stetson University
Religions of the East
Stetson University
BOOK CHAPTERS
TBD
(accepted) With Williams, Erin. “Silver or Steel? Critiquing Rational Choice in an Irrational World.” In The Witcher and Philosophy, ed. Matthew Brake and Kevin S. Decker. Wiley / Blackwell.
2023
“Lost Souls and Old Sons: Augustinian Theodicy and the Path to Redemption in NBC’s Constantine.” In Theology and the DC Universe, ed. Roshan Abraham and Gabriel Mckee. New York, NY: Lexington Books / Fortress Academic.
2017
“The Accidental Hero.” In Deadpool and Philosophy, ed. Nicholas Michaud and Jacob Thomas May. Chicago, IL: Open Court Publishing Company.
BOOK REVIEWS
2020
Sem Vermeersch. A Chinese Traveler in Medieval Korea: Xu Jing’s Illustrated Account of the Xuanhe Embassy to Koryo (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 2016). In Reading Religion. Online.
2019
Hwansoo Kim. The Korean Buddhist Empire: A Transnational History, 1910-1945 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018). In Reading Religion. Online.
PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP
2020
“World-Breaker: Feuerbach, Kierkegaard, and the Divine in FX’s Legion.” On AndPhilosophy.com: The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series. Online April 13.
2017
“Self and Identity in Gotham.” On AndPhilosophy.com: The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series. Online January 23.
2016
“Personhood in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.” On AndPhilosophy.com: The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series. Online June 3.
ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS
2021
“Tempering the Sword: An Analysis of the Near Eastern Covenant in Deuteronomy 13:2-19, 17:2-7, and Qur’ān 9:5.” 12th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics, Virtual via Zoom, January 7-10.
2020
“It Wears a Human Face: Superheroes, Schizophrenia, and Subjectivity in FX’s Legion.” 18th Annual Graduate Student Symposium, Florida State University, February 14-15.
2019
(in absentia) “Becoming Uyghur: Resistance and Religion in Modern Xinjiang.” SECSOR (Annual Meeting), Greenville, NC, March 8-10.
“Secret Lives, Fragmented Selves: Ms. Marvel and Muslim American Youth.” 17th Annual Graduate Student Symposium, Florida State University, February 22-23.
2018
“A New Religion for a New Korea: Won Buddhism as a Nationalist Construction, 1910-1945.” 3rd Annual Master’s Conference in Religious Studies, Duke University, February 23-24.
2017
“The Truth of Il-Won: Neo-Confucianism, Nationalism, and a New Religious Movement in Colonial Korea.” 1st Annual Buddhist Studies Graduate Conference, Florida State University, November 10-11.
“Unbreakable: Contested Boundaries and Conflicting Identities in Marvel’s Luke Cage.” 74th Annual SCMLA Conference, Tulsa, OK, October 5-7.
“Muslim Brethren? Sufism, Terrorism, and Uyghur Identity in Post- Republican China.” 15th Annual Graduate Student Symposium, Florida State University, February 19-21.
DEPARTMENTAL SERVICE
(FSU, RELIGION)
Summer 2020
Research Assistant, Dr. Adam Gaiser
Project: Sectarianism in Islam: The Umma Divided
2019-2020
Co-Director
18th Annual Graduate Student Symposium
2018-2019
Chair, Media and PR
17th Annual Graduate Student Symposium
LANGUAGES
Arabic – Elementary in Reading
German – Elementary in Reading
Japanese – Intermediate in Reading and Writing, Elementary in Speaking