Current PhD Candidates
Assaf Benchetrit
Dissertation title: DNA of Dance Movement – The Mysterious Roots of the Qualities of Movement and the Fundamental Role They Take in Dance Forms
The subject of my research is the meeting point between the worlds of dance and technology. I am quantitatively evaluating the quality of dance notations (at the energy level) in capturing the aesthetics aspect of dance through the use of data-science methods.
Advisors: Remco Chang, Department of Computer Science
Robert Jacob, Department of Computer Science
Renata Celichowski, Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies
Maxine Steinman, Theatre and Dance, Montclair State University
Louisa Collins
Dissertation title: An analysis of the role of non-state music actors in global cultural relations and diplomacy
My research lies at the intersection of music, international relations and cultural studies, with a focus on exploring the role that music plays in cultural relations between peoples and countries. My research will use a mix of qualitative, quantitative and experimental research methods, including music performance projects.
Advisors: Richard Jankowsky, Department of Music
Melinda Latour, Department of Music
Adam Kamradt-Scott, Fletcher School
J. Simon Rofe, University of Leeds
Asli Dirik
Dissertation title: Enhancing Women's Healthcare Journey: Leveraging Advanced Technology and Digital Innovation to Improve Healthcare Solutions and Data Accuracy in Women's Health While Navigating Sociological Barriers
Asli Dirik is a researcher and designer focused on advancing women's health through innovative technology and design. As an Interdisciplinary Doctorate (IDoc) student at Tufts University's Silklab, she works to address the gender health innovation gap and promote equity in healthcare access and data, using product innovation. Combining insights from biology, chemistry, design, and sociology, Asli develops advanced biological interfaces and smart wearables that aim to transform female patient experiences. Her work ranges from creating chemically sensing fabrics to exploring AI-driven diagnostics, with the goal of developing accessible, personalized healthcare solutions for women globally.
With a background in art and design from UAL Central Saint Martins and experience in product development, Asli brings a user-centered approach to her research. Asli's interdisciplinary work positions her at the intersection of science and design, where she strives to create practical innovations that can significantly impact women's healthcare and fem-tech industry worldwide.
Advisors: Fiorenzo Omenetto, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Laia Mogas-Soldevila
Benjamin Wolfe, Department of Biology
Fatima Hussain
Charlie Mace, Department of Chemistry
Shonglin Gaekwad
Dissertation title: TBD
My research for the most part will be carried out in the Silklab, where I will work on harnessing the power of Silk and other biomaterials, microbiology, human computer interaction, optics and artistic tools to develop reliable and scalable sustainable solutions for the design world and potentially beyond.
Advisors: Fiorenzo Omenetto, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Benjamin Wolfe, Department of Biology
Joseph Auner, Department of Music
Timothee Leblond
Dissertation Title: Redesigning human ecosystems through interactive bio-based architectures
As a designer and researcher, Timothée's work is strongly interdisciplinary and combines materials science, mechanical engineering, biology and computational design. He specializes in the development of innovative additive printing and manufacturing processes tailored for biomaterials. His foremost intention is to explore how additive manufacturing and disassembly of functionalized silk-based biopolymers can participate to a more resilient future. Timothée began his career studying art and industrial design at the École Nationale Supérieure d'art et de design de Nancy, before specializing in design research at the prestigious École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay. This foundation was further fortified through research internships at prestigious institutions such as the Learning Planet Institute of Université Paris-Cité (ex Centre de Recherche Interdisciplaire) in Paris and the esteemed Soft Matters research group at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris. Timothée joined Tufts University as a full-time PhD student (IDOC Program) and Silklab as a Graduate research assistant in Fall 2024.
Advisors: Fiorenzo Omenetto, Biomedical Engineering Department
Barry Trimmer, Biology Department
John Durant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Jennifer Lewis, Department of Applied Engineering, Harvard University
Laia Mogas-Soldevila, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of
Pennsylvania
John Lehman
Dissertation title: My Wind-Up Bird: A Visual Reckoning with Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Bird Chronicle
My work as an Interdisciplinary PhD candidate at Tufts draws equally from scholarship of transnational literatures and fine art practice in order to interrogate Haruki Murakami’s novel, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Blending visual media and literary analysis allows me to challenge traditional understandings of reading and art, while exposing how cross-pollination between disciplines can yield otherwise inaccessible insight. These efforts will yield a dissertation that proves scholarship can be as creative a pursuit as art-making is scholarly.
Advisors: Charles Inouye, Department of International Literary and Cultural Studies
Hosea Hirata, Department of International Literary and Cultural Studies
Ethan Murrow, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University
Nancy Bauer, Department of Philosophy
Sonia Hofkosh, Department of English
Mima McMillan
Dissertation title: TBD
I'm investigating Black Women in positions of power in the form of Queens, Priestesses, Goddesses, Warriors, and the void of their voices in history. As an Interdisciplinary PhD Candidate my research will span Africana Studies, Anthropology, Gender and Women Studies, Religion, History, English Literature, and Studio Art to shed light on the contributions Black Women have made in history that most historians have pushed to the background or deemed unimportant.
Advisors: Nancy Bauer, Department of Philosophy
Heather Curtis, Departments of Religion and History
Adlai Murdoch, Department of Romance Studies
Ethan Murrow, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University
Sarah Pinto, Department of Anthropology
Karen Mulder
Dissertation Title: (Un)Disciplined: A Crisis of Purpose in American Research Universities
Calls for interdisciplinary -- and multi/trans/cross or any of a variety of modifiers to 'disciplinary' -- formations in American research universities have occurred cyclically since the formalization of these institutions at the turn of the last century. Appeals for the necessity of such models make implicitly idealist and often moral claims about the purpose of academic research and about higher education institutions more broadly as universities face pressure to continually reestablish their legitimacy and redefine their role in American society. At the same time, formations that truly and radically integrate or operate outside of academic disciplines have been difficult to establish or sustain. This dissertation explores the historic, epistemic, and sociocultural foundations of calls to interdisciplinary formations in the context of academic disciplines themselves and, in doing so, offers an important lens into how power both is wielded within our collective knowledge base and effectively places epistemic limits on the ability to produce new knowledge. Historical and ethnographic examinations of calls for interdisciplinarity in the face of their epistemic limitations may further illuminate historical moments in which universities, as represented by their leadership, feel their sense of purpose and legitimacy are in crisis. The use of multiple lenses to investigate these moments of disciplinary instability and restructuring may help reveal what institutional conditions (if any) might allow varied types of knowledge formations to flourish more regularly, if the permanence of such formations matters, and the extent to which radical formations would and should alter the purpose of higher education institutions.
Advisors: Freeden Blume Oeur, Department of Sociology
Nancy Bauer, Department of Philosophy
Cristiano Casalini, Boston College, Educational History
Kevin Dunn, Vice Provost, Department of English
Nick Seaver, Department of Anthropology
Lynn Torgove
Dissertation title: TBD
My research focuses on the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp, the only major Nazi camp intended almost exclusively for female prisoners, the lives of the women there, and the music they wrote and sang while at the camp. I will be looking at this topic through the interdisciplinary lens of music, theatre and performance studies, sociology, ethnomusicology, and anthropology. My work will also include the development of musical theatrical performance including the music that was written by prisoners at the camp, Weimar Jewish Cabaret and Klezmer music.
Advisors: Alessandra Campana, Department of Music
Barbara Grossman, Department of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies
Laurence Senelik, Emeritus, Department of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies
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