Parvin E’tesami Student Support Fund Recipients

2025-2026 Recipients

• Sergen Avci (PhD candidate, Near and Middle Eastern Studies) will conduct archival research in the United Kingdom for his dissertation focused on the production and dissemination of Turkish story collections during sixteenth-century Ottoman Empire.
• Tuna Basibek (PhD student, Near and Middle Eastern Studies) will present research at the annual Middle East History and Theory Conference and the Western Ottomanist Workshop.
• Can Bodrumlu (PhD student, Political Science) will conduct archival research in Istanbul, Turkey focused on bureaucratic organizations from the late Ottoman Empire into the early Turkish republic.
• Berfin Cicek (PhD student, Near and Middle Eastern Studies) will conduct preliminary archival research in Istanbul, Turkey, focused on Turkish and Iranian literary relations.
• Marie DePalma (Undergraduate student, International Studies and Political Science) will pursue Arabic language study at the American University in Cairo.
• Merve Edeer (PhD student, Political Science) will conduct archival research in Turkey focused on the political economy of early Turkish republic political institutions.
• Berkin Hizlan (PhD student, Near and Middle Eastern Studies) will conduct archival research on early modern Ottoman literary manuscripts in Istanbul, Turkey.
• Fatemeh Hosseinzadeh (PhD student, International Studies) will pursue Arabic language training this summer.
• Abdi Omar (Undergraduate student, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures) will pursue Arabic language study in Morocco.
• Roman Pomeshchikov (PhD candidate, Near and Middle Eastern Studies) will attend the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science for further training in quantitative methodologies needed for his dissertation research.
• Bahar Saadat (PhD student, Near and Middle Eastern Studies) will purchase rare Persian-language newspapers and film magazines to support his dissertation research on 1970s Iranian cinema and media.
• Sara Shirazi (MA student, Middle Eastern Studies) will develop public outreach materials and programming related to the ancient Persian tradition of zoorkhaneh.
• April Tong (PhD student, Near and Middle Eastern Studies) will pursue Turkish language training at Boğaziçi University.
• Yasir Zaidan (PhD candidate, International Studies) will conduct field research focused on trade and logistics flows in Red Sea ports.