I am an archaeologist and anthropologist focusing on cultural heritage—how people use the material remains of the past—and a prize-winning author of literary nonfiction.

Currently

I am a Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Consulting Scholar at Penn Museum’s Cultural Heritage Center, University of Pennsylvania.

Ghost Maps, a work of literary nonfiction on what violence leaves behind, is forthcoming from Dzanc Books in 2027.

Formerly

• Postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at Aarhus University, Denmark, on the project Enduring Materialities of Colonialism. I looked at rights and access claims to the heritage of Danish colonialism on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.

• Postdoctoral fellow in the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University (Sweden). I studied how Rwanda and Germany's diplomatic relationship mobilizes cultural heritage, especially human remains.

• Research associate in the program on Understanding Violent Conflict at the Social Science Research Council. I synthesized research from across the social science spectrum for reports, literature reviews, and policy papers for scholars, policymakers, philanthropists, and the United Nations.

• PhD candidate at Stanford University’s Archaeology Center. My dissertation examined the politics of heritage in post-genocide Rwanda.

• Consulting researcher on topics such as the heritage of conflict in Northeast Asia.

• Copyeditor for the Journal of Social Archaeology and developmental editor for academic authors.

• Invited expert reviewer for UNESCO World Heritage.

• Judge for the Society for Humanistic Anthropology’s Creative Ethnographic Prose Competition.

Education

PhD Anthropology (Archaeology), Stanford University

MA Anthropology, Stanford University

MA Cultural Heritage Management, University of York

BA Archaeology and French Studies, Wesleyan University