2006-present

Ph.D. Program in South Asia Regional Studies
Benjamin Franklin fellow
Department of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
Dissertation (proposal defended 20 Nov. 2009):
“From silsilah to sampradāy: the Transformation of a Sufi Order into an Orthodox Vaishnava Sect”
Dissertation Committee:
Dr. Jamal J. Elias (University of Pennsylvania), Dr. John S. Hawley (Columbia University), and Dr. Daud Ali (University of Pennsylvania)

2000-2007

M.A. (magna cum laude) in
Religious Studies (major)
Classical Indology (minor)
Islamic Studies (minor)
Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
Master’s thesis: “A Critical Reinterpretation of Islamic Law: the Role of Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi’s fatawa in India’s Islamic Public Sphere”
Thesis supervisor: Dr. Gregor Ahn

2001

Semester abroad
Department of History and Department of Sociology
Boğaziçi (Bosphorus) University, Istanbul, Turkey

2011-2012

Briton Martin Academic Year Fellowship [awarded, but rejected]
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

2006-2011

Benjamin Franklin Fellowship
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

2008-2009

Viswabharati Academic Year Fellowship [awarded, but rejected]
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA