Why NELC? When I was in high school, I read many books by Orhan Pamuk and, in this way, I became interested in Turkey--its politics in particular. When I arrived at Harvard, I enrolled in Turkish, intending to pursue a concentration in Government with a focus in the Middle East. But I loved my language course and I became as interested in the history and culture of Turkey as I had been in its politics. I chose NELC because its interdisciplinary nature would allow me to focus on these themes.

Recent related experience: Hellenic American University internship in Athens, Greece; photographer at excavation of Sardis in Turkey; thesis research in Istanbul, Izmir, and Ankara, Turkey and archaeological fieldwork in Armenia and Georgia.

Thesis title: Izmir from the Ashes: Urban Reconstruction, Modernity, and Nationalism in 1930s Turkey