I began my academic career at Yale, where I majored in Classical Civilization and graduated magna cum laude with Distinction in the Major in 2016. My senior thesis examined the Lokrian tribute, delving into literary, epigraphic, and archaeological source material to trace how and why this small historical ritual became a metaphor for female voicelessness and Roman hegemony in later literature.
Currently, I am interested in Roman imperial social and cultural history and material culture, with a focus on the lives of urban non-elites. This work has been complimented by five seasons excavating in Italy with the Gabii Project, where I became fascinated by Gabii’s process of de-urbanization.
As an undergraduate, I also began examining Pliny the Elder’s Natural History as a political work, with my initial writing on this topic winning the 2016 Phyllis B. Katz Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. I hope to continue this project in graduate school to engage with the ways modern scholarship relies on encyclopedic texts like the Natural History, particularly in an archaeological context.
Before rejoining academia, I spent several years in Chicago working as a legal researcher. Though I am looking forward to California’s windchill-free winters, I remain a dedicated White Sox fan and defender of deep-dish pizza. When not in the library, I can be found exploring the Bay Area and expanding my collection of ridiculous vintage comic books, which includes the one where Captain America becomes a werewolf.
