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Biographies of Current Graduate Students

Page content, m.a. students.

Andy is interested in studying topics related to the major conflicts of the 20 th century and hopes to focus on the efforts of World War I veterans to gain similar benefits to those given to World War II veterans in his MA thesis. In his spare time he is an avid wargamer and has spent the last 20 years studying Tomiki-ryu Aikido.

PhD Students

Dennis Cowles (PhD, Early American History) MA, History, 2006 University of New Orleans; BA, French, 2002 University of New Orleans. Dennis’s research interests center on the intersections of imperial history and social history, specifically during eras of regime change. Other interests include colonial Latin America, comparative colonial history, ethnohistory, and the Atlantic world. Dennis worked for several years as an adjunct instructor of history in New Orleans and in the Boston area. He also has nearly 20 years' experience working in museums and non-profit organizations, including running a planetarium and working at the Paul Revere House. Dennis is an amateur astronomer and an avid reader of eighteenth-century English novels. His dissertation project, “Neither Subjects nor Rebels: Responses to Imperial Centralization in Salem and Ipswich, 1660 – 1715,” is directed by Dr. Kyle F. Zelner.

Missy’s area of historical focus includes Reconstruction and Historical Memory.  Missy’s research on the Clinton Riot of 1875 has captured both local and national attention.  In 2015, Missy worked with the City of Clinton, local churches, and the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation in hosting several public events to bring attention and awareness to this tragic event on its 140 th anniversary.   In September of 2015, her article, "Thawing Frozen History: The Clinton Riot of 1875" was published by the Mississippi Historical Society.

In 2016, Missy was named the Distinguished Alumna of the Year by her colleagues at MC.  She is a faculty co-sponsor of the MC History Club and is a member of the Civil Rights Education Committee of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, the Mississippi Historical Society, the Mississippi College Faculty Council, the Archives and History Commission of the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church, and the Mississippi Council for the Social Studies. Her work has been highlighted by Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Teaching for Change, the Jackson Free Press , the Clarion-Ledger , the Clinton Courier , and the Mississippi College Collegian .

In the summer of 2015, John attended the West Point Summer Seminar in Military History. As part of the seminar, John took part in workshop pedagogy sessions and presented his research on drone use in contemporary warfare. He also toured Harpers Ferry, South Mountain, Antietam battlefield, and participated in the Gettysburg Staff Ride. John has published several encyclopedia articles, some of which will appear in Cyber Warfare: A Reference Book (2017). John was the recipient of the Lamar Powell History Graduate Scholarship for 2016-2017. Other interests include: contemporary foreign relations in a transatlantic context, war and society, technology.

305 Liberal Arts Building (LAB) 118 College Dr. #5037 Hattiesburg, MS 39406

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Phone 601.266.4320

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How to Write an Academic Bio for Conferences

There are very few things as challenging as writing academic biographies (perhaps academic writing?). It seems simple, but things soon get awkward as you try to show how amazing you are without sounding arrogation or pretentious. Sophie shares her tips on writing a balanced bio…

It’s all going swimmingly until you read the Call for Papers: Please submit a proposal and brief bio.

What on earth is a bio (otherwise known as an ‘academic bio’)? And just how brief does it need to be? Writing an academic bio is a skill you can pick up like any other, and this article will take you through the basics of what to include, what to leave out, and how to craft this tricky piece of your academic arsenal.

Covering the Basics

Whatever discipline you’re working in, you’ll definitely need to include the following in your academic bio:

•  full name,
• position (i.e. PhD student; PhD candidate),
• institution.

All this should go into the first sentence, so it reads something like this:

Joe Bloggs is currently a PhD candidate [meaning he’s passed his upgrade] at the University of Warwick.

You can also mention your department, although it’s not strictly necessary for most of us.

The Big Picture

The rest of your academic bio should tell the reader about your research interests. Start by setting out your broad research question , whether that’s finding new ways to create Omega 3 in algae cultures or exploring fashion statements at Charles II’s court. Then focus it further; are you looking at a specific type of algae culture, or a particular poet who was into fashion? This is the most important part of your bio: it tells other people attending the conference where you’re coming from, and may present links between your research areas.

You can end your bio here, or add another sentence situating your research within wider scholarship. Is it important to reference your specific style of criticism, or how you’re leading on from recently-published developments in the field, for example? If it’s important for the theme of the conference, you may wish to add another sentence on the future directions of your research. However, if this isn’t relevant or necessary, feel free to leave it out, especially if you’ve been asked to submit a brief bio – best to keep it brief and stick to your research interests.

What Not to Do

Inevitably, we all do things early in our career/academic life that, with hindsight, make us cringe. To avoid that uncomfortable feeling in the future, four common errors are:

• Treating your bio like a humorous essay : only include a joke if you’re sure it’s really, really funny (maybe check with a straight-talking friend).
• Getting too personal : an academic bio is a chance to make an impression pre-conference, and it may be what people remember you by, so ensure that you stay professional.
• Giving too much information : remember that an academic bio isn’t the same thing as a CV – the conference organisers don’t need to know where you did your undergrad, MA or how much you’ve won in grants.
• Using exclamation marks : your writing should be relatively formal in style, so avoid coming across as too chatty – save your engaging manners for the big presentation day!

One final tip is to use the third person. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but at some conferences, your bio will be read out as an introduction, so personally I prefer to start a sentence like Joe Bloggs above.

What do you think about this approach?

Any more tips for writing academic bios?

Text credits: Sophie Shorland 

Sophie is a PhD student at Warwick, where she’s one of the organisers of the English Department’s annual postgraduate symposium for 2017. You can find out how to get involved in the symposium here , or check their Twitter here .  

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One thought on “ how to write an academic bio for conferences ”.

What a concidence. I’m sending the abstract and the bio for a conference at Warwick

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PhD Student Bios

In addition to their studies, doctoral candidates are involved in many aspects of the school. Among other activities, they hold Research or Teaching Fellowships and organize speaker series, conferences, and journals.

Students generally take courses their first two years, and are engaged in research and teaching for at least two more years. After their fourth year, students may or may not remain in residency; many travel to pursue their research, either in the US or abroad.

Click here for recent PhD graduates.

Salma’s doctoral research examines the entangled relationships of empire, urban ecology, and racialized and gendered labor. It asks how contextual assemblages of race, gender, and class were produced and materialized in the regional and infrastructural planning of late colonial and postcolonial North Africa. It studies the historical geography of the ‘ Sugar Towns’ of southern Egypt over the long 20 th century, which emerged under British colonial rule by a group of British and French financiers. Focusing on four regional and infrastructural planning schemes at different moments of the sugarcane region’s history, the dissertation investigates how racialized and gendered labor, socio-ecological dispossessions, and diseases evolved in the region, affecting Nubian Egyptians, seasonal migratory workers ( Tarahil ), and the undervalued labor of women and children. This study involved ethnographic research in Egypt over 18 months, as well as extensive archival research at the Egyptian National Archives, the Egyptian Sugar Company’s archives, the Nubian Oral History Archive at the American University in Cairo, the British National Archives, the UN-FAO archives, and the Rockefeller/Ford Foundation. Additionally, it has drawn from family archives in the sugar region of southern Egypt with personal family members involved in sugarcane production. Salma’s research has been supported by several fellowships and grants, including those from the Aga Khan Program, the International Journal for Urban and Regional Research (IJURR), the Mellon Foundation, the Harvard Center for African Studies, The Weatherhead center for International Affairs, and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.

In addition to her doctoral research, Salma has worked as an urban planner for over five years in several agencies across the Middle East contributing to projects on urban governance, participatory planning, urban agriculture, urban policies for climate change adaptation, and institutionalizing community engagement at the municipal level. She holds a Master of Science in urban planning and development from University College London , and a Bachelor of Architecture from the American University in Cairo .

Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, Hannah worked as a project architect at Annum Architects (formerly Ann Beha Architects) on museums, campus master planning, and a diplomatic consulate with the Department of State and Overseas Building Office. Before joining Ann Beha Architects, she taught design studios at the University of San Francisco, and practiced design at Steven Holl Architects, Smith Group, and TEN Arquitectos.

Hannah has written for Texas Architect Magazine, ArchDaily, the Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, and other publications . Recent projects include a chapter on the dichotomy of intellectual and physical gendered space in Afghanistan for The Routledge Handbook of Infrastructure Design.

Hannah holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was awarded the E.D. Farmer International Fellowship and the UTSoA Travel Scholarship for field research on cognitive mapping and the legacy of integración plástica in Mexico City. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Economics from Wellesley College.

Corinna has worked in curatorial and editorial roles at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, and most recently at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Their writing has appeared in Footprint, the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s What About the Provinces? issue, and Housing Perspectives . They hold a BA in Visual Arts and Mathematics from the University of Chicago.

[email protected]

Hugo Betting is a fourth-year PhD student. His research explores the entanglement of architecture, science, and environment in history, through texts and objects in the nineteenth and twentieth-century North Atlantic.

At the nexus of architectural, intellectual, and environmental history, his current work examines the nationalist discourse of U.S. (settler) architecture in relation to its environmental conditions of production and enunciation – in other words, how U.S. architecture was described, historicized, and theorized in environmental terms, and made “national” as “natural.”

Hugo presented his work at the Mahindra Center for Humanities at Harvard, the Graduate School of Architecture at Columbia, and the Symposium of Urban Design History and Theory held at TU Delft.

His research has been supported by the Arthur Sachs Foundation and the Harvard GSAS Graduate Society. Prior to arriving at Harvard, Hugo completed a licence’s and a master’s degree from Paris La Villette School of Architecture and worked for various architecture studios in Paris.

William Conroy is a PhD candidate in urban studies and planning at Harvard University, and an Edmond J. Safra Graduate Fellow in Ethics at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics. He is broadly interested in the theoretical dimensions of political-economic problems, and is currently focused on developing an abstract-theoretical account of capitalist urbanization and the production of space in capitalist society. In line with that agenda, William’s ongoing dissertation project tracks the shifting place of “the urban” in American anti-imperial thought across the middle part of the twentieth century, engaging its invocation as a site of political intervention and category of socio-spatial analysis. His contention is that this intellectual-historical undertaking provides a distinctive vantage onto not only the political, economic, and ecological implications of capitalist urbanization during that conjuncture, but onto some of the most vexing questions in socio-spatial theory regarding capitalist urbanization as well.

In addition to his dissertation work, William has published widely since beginning his PhD, intervening in theoretical debates on, inter alia , the relationship between ascriptive difference and capitalist reproduction, the role of urbanization in mediating capitalist crises, and spatial dialectics. This work has appeared in Antipode, Environment and Planning A, Urban Studies, Theory, Culture & Society , and Review of International Political Economy , among other outlets. (For more information and publication details, please visit: https://harvard.academia.edu/WilliamConroy )

William has a BA from Northwestern University, an MPhil from the University of Oxford, and an AM from Harvard University. He is a Research Affiliate at the University of Chicago’s Urban Theory Lab.

Samira holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Toronto and a Master of Science from the University of Michigan. She undertook historical studies in arts and humanities after five years of medical studies in Iran. Samira’s writings have appeared in Winterthur Portfolio , Thresholds Journal , Informa , Inflection Journal , and Centre . She has exhibited her work at MIT Keller Gallery, Fashion Art Toronto, University of Texas at Austin, Azrieli School of Architecture at Carleton University, and recently curated an exhibition with Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments.

Romain holds a BA in cinema studies from Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle and a BA and MA in architecture from l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris La Villette. In 2018, he received the Prix du Mémoire de Master en Architecture from the Fondation Rémy Butler. His research has been supported by the Canadian Center for Architecture in Montréal, the Harvard University Asia Center, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the Arthur Sachs Fellowship. In the Fall of 2024, as a Merit-Term Fellow, he will spend time in the Netherlands at the National Archives for his research.

Phillip frequently writes about architecture, art, and design. His writing has appeared in  Harvard Design Magazine, Volume, Metropolis, The New York Times, and other publications.  Recent projects include a genealogy of “creaturely” architecture in  Inscriptions: Architecture Before Speech,  edited by K. Michael Hays and Andrew Holder (Harvard University Press), and The Art of Joining: Designing the Universal Connector  (Leipzig: Spector Books), a pocketbook anthology of original research on the architect Konrad Wachsmann. He is a member of the editorial board of  Architect’s Newspaper  and editor of New York Review of Architecture.  In 2020, Phillip co-founded  a83 , a gallery and organization in Soho, New York, with a three-part mission to exhibit, publish, and promote experimental projects in architecture, art, and design.

Phillip completed his Master of Architecture degree at Princeton University, where he graduated with the certificate in Media + Modernity, and received the School of Architecture History and Theory Prize. He received a Master’s degree from Harvard University in 2019. He also holds a professional Bachelor of Architecture degree from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was awarded the Louis F Valentour Fellowship, the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Prize for Architecture History, and the AIA Henry Adams Medal. He has practiced in numerous roles with architecture firms and organizations in the United States and Europe, including OMA/Rem Koolhaas, MOS Architects of New York, and C-Lab at Columbia University. In 2018, Phillip was a fellow of the Bauhaus Global Modernism Lab in Dessau, Germany. In 2019, he received a Graham Foundation grant to support his work on an English-language translation of Nicolas Schöffer’s 1969 urban manifesto  La ville cybernétique.

phillipdenny.com

Prior to matriculating to Harvard, Hayley completed her B.A. and M.A. degrees in art history at McGill University. Her master’s thesis on the Tiepolo family of draftsmen, decorators, and painters introduced the theory of pastoralesque, a play on the pastoral genre in art and literature and Mikhail Bakhtin’s influential carnivalesque. Hayley characterizes representations of commedia dell’arte street performers in the countryside as pastoralesque, their presence significantly altering the natural landscape from a locus amoenus (delightful place) to a second carnival.

Hayley will be leading an undergraduate seminar on Renaissance and Baroque architectural and stage design practice for theatre during the fall. She is a Research Tutor in the Master of Design Studies Program (Narratives) and a Research Assistant for Professor Christine Smith.

Morgan holds an MPhil in Architecture and Urban Studies with distinction from the University of Cambridge and a bachelor’s degree in International Politics and Security Studies from Georgetown University. Formerly a journalist and editor, her work has appeared in The Nation, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Mic, Popular Mechanics, Ploughshares, and elsewhere.

Charlie holds a Master in Design Studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a B.A. in Art History and English from Williams College. Prior to earning his Masters degree, Charlie worked as a strategist at the New York design consultancy 2×4 before joining the GSD’s Office for Urbanization (OFU). There, he contributed to design research projects on mass transit, climate change adaptation, and new town planning. With Charles Waldheim and OFU, Charlie co-authored 50 Species-Towns , a 2022 publication that presents a speculative approach to rural urbanization in China. Charlie lives in Somerville, MA with his wife Cat and son Paul.

Swarnabh is a research affiliate at the Urban Theory Lab, formerly based at the GSD, currently housed in the Division of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago. His doctoral research has been supported by the Sheldon Traveling Fellowship, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard GSAS Graduate Society, Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative, and the IJURR Foundation. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Critical Historical Studies, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space , Dialogues in Human Geography , Urban Studies , and The Avery Review , among other publications .

Swarnabh holds a Master of Philosophy in Urban Studies (with distinction) from the University of Cambridge where he studied as a Bass Scholar and a Master of Architecture from Yale University. Before coming to Harvard, he worked for several years at Diller Scofidio and Renfro in New York City where he was involved in projects spanning architecture, art, and media.

www.swarnabhghosh.com

Matthew is a co-founder of the Mexico City-based art, design, and research practice Cosa, which seeks to address how architectural thinking and cultures of construction are inflected at different scales by the social, economic, and material outcomes of industrial development and globalization. He has worked previously in architecture practices including Studio Frida Escobedo, Charlap Hyman & Herrero, and The Fautory. He is the assistant editor of the architectural research journal Faktur: Documents & Architecture , which has been the recipient of multiple grants from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. Matthew is the co-author of The Advanced School of Collective Feeling (Park Books, 2023), which explores the connections between physical culture and modern domestic architecture between 1926 and 1938. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation.

Gabriel was Assistant Curator for the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2021. Past curated exhibitions include “Walls of Air” (the Brazilian Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale) and “Housing+” (the 3rd Biennial Exhibit of the MIT L. Center for Advanced Urbanism). His recent books include: The World as an Architectural Project (MIT Press, 2020); 8 Reactions for Afterwards (RioBooks, 2019); and Walls of Air: Brazilian Pavilion 2018 (Bienal de São Paulo, 2018).

Graduated from the Master of Science in Urban Design program at MIT, Gabriel has held research positions at the School of Architecture and Planning, the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism and the Senseable City Lab, and taught graduate-level seminars, workshops and studios at the same school.

For his PhD at Harvard, Gabriel is looking at the history of urbanization in the Amazon basin. His research interest suggests that the way politics and power got spatialized in that region has defined the framework through which we conceive of and relate to the Amazon, and that a new reading of it can, in turn, inform the way we understand and address broader urbanization processes as well as the responses from our design disciplines.

gabrielkozlowski.com tomorrowanew.org

Isaiah holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Northeastern University, and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In the MLA program Isaiah contributed to faculty research and served as a teaching assistant in the core studio sequence. Isaiah has professional experience at landscape architecture firms in Boston, New York, and most recently in Los Angeles, contributing to the design and documentation of school greening and public park projects, as well as multi-use trail improvements along the Los Angeles River.

Anny has a background and strong interest in archives, knowledge infrastructures, and material history. Her professional experience includes work in special collections libraries, including Frances Loeb Library’s Special Collections and Houghton Library, where she supported their exhibitions, communications, and public programs. Prior to her graduate studies, she worked on communications and publications at Snøhetta, and has been a writer and editor at various architecture and landscape architecture firms for over 6 years. She has been an invited speaker in courses at the Syracuse University School of Architecture, Yale School of Architecture, Harvard GSD, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and has edited and been published in publications including the New York Review of Architecture , Failed Architecture , POOL , Constructs , and volume 1 . She holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Brown University.

Sunghwan earned his Master in Design Studies (MDes) degree in Energy and Environment from Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2021. He received the Dean’s Merit Scholarship during his study and his master’s thesis, entitled Controlling Wind Pressure around Building by Multiangle Ventilation Louver for Higher Natural Ventilation Potential , was awarded to Daniel L. Schodek Award for Technology and Sustainability from Harvard Graduate School of Design and top student paper (Doctoral Level) from the 2023 ASHRAE Winter Conference.

Before joining the Harvard community, Sunghwan double majored in Interior Architecture & Built Environment and Architecture & Architectural Engineering at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, Sunghwan worked as a construction engineer at Samsung Construction and Trading company for six years. His invaluable experiences with building an airport in Mongolia and constructing a residential complex in Seoul profoundly shaped his research ideas and motivated him to contribute to the field of architecture.

Adam was formerly a 2023-2024 Graduate Fellow in Ethics at The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics, a 2023-2024 Graduate Affiliate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and a 2023 Harvard Horizons Scholar. His research has also been supported by the Minmin Zeng Innovative Doctoral Research Fund, the Harvard Graduate Society, as well as a 2024 Film and New Media Grant and a 2023 Carter Manny Award Citation of Special Recognition from The Graham Foundation.

Before coming to Harvard, Adam was a research director at the New York design office of Snøhetta and an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at The Cooper Union. His writing can be found in H-Net Network on Science, Medicine and Technology , Thresholds , The Avery Review , and Log, among others.

Her chapter about Denise Scott Brown’s work with a Black citizens’ committee to oppose a destructive expressway development in Philadelphia appears in Frida Grahn, ed. Denise Scott Brown: With Others’ Eyes.

Sarah holds both Master of Architecture and a Master of Science in Historic Preservation degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, where the focus of her research was conflict between the collective desire to memorialize and the protective impulse to stigmatize, sanitize, or obliterate sites with traumatic or violent associations. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in fine arts from Yale University. She splits her time between Cambridge and Edinburgh.

Before pursuing graduate studies, Lindsay worked as a strategist in media and telecommunications focusing on cloud storage, fiber connectivity, data-center design, and energy use. At Harvard, Lindsay has worked with various faculty as a research assistant at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, supporting research, public programs, and exhibitions on topics such as radio waves, image manipulation, and generative AI.

Lindsay holds a Master in Design Studies with distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a B.A. with honors in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University.

Before joining the PhD program, Miranda taught advanced studio courses as a Visiting Professor of Practice at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture. At Virginia Tech she also developed a course on social mapping and GIS with a regional focus in Appalachia, which received support and recognition from other departments at the university and won the ACSA / Temple Hoyne Buell Center’s 2023 Course Development Prize in Architecture, Climate Change, and Society.

Before teaching, she worked as an architect at RODE Architects in Boston, MA on the largest supportive housing project north of New York City, as well as flood-resilient, Passive House, and community-oriented projects. She has also worked at firms in Boston and New York specializing in affordable housing, historic preservation, and adaptive reuse.

Caroline Filice Smith is doctoral candidate in Urban Planning and was the ‘22-‘23 Democracy Doctoral Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School. Their work focuses on racialized histories of urban design across the US and its empire, histories of activist planner-architects, and reparative and abolitionist models of urban design. Caroline’s dissertation project explores the emergence of “participatory planning” in the mid-twentieth century. Through a focus on federally funded—yet activist led—community action programs in the US, Caroline’s research examines how the Black Power movement, the War on Poverty, and models of community development originally designed to quell insurgency abroad, intersected to form the foundation of a now central paradigm of US urban planning practice. This work touches on issues of democratic social engineering, cold war imperialism, 20 th  century anti-racist urban uprisings, and struggles for self-determination across the US.

In addition to their dissertation, Caroline teaches and conducts research as part of the  Urban Design and the Color Line  project and has recently completed an anti-racist planning toolkit with the Highline Network and the Urban Institute ( link ), and a report for the Architectural League of NY on landscape and community-led, post-coal futures for Appalachia.  They are a Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative doctoral fellow, having previously served as an Irving Innovation Fellow, and their work has been funded by the Graham Foundation, the Knight Foundation, the Warren Center for American Studies, the Canadian Center for Architecture, and the Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative. Caroline holds a Master of Architecture in Urban Design with Distinction from the GSD, where they were awarded both the Thesis Prize and Academic Excellence Award in Urban Design – additionally, Caroline holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech. Prior to coming to Harvard, Caroline spent five years in professional architectural practice – most of which was spent working for UNStudio in their Shanghai office, and less of which was spent practicing in Los Angeles where they were actively involved in the Occupy movement.

MS Srinivas is a first-year PhD student in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning. He is interested in histories of war, commemoration, and memory; the politics and architectures of the British Empire; and global and postcolonial approaches to architectural history. His earlier research has examined the transnational project of the Imperial War Graves Commission in the years after the First World War, and the emergence of the Delhi modern since the 1950s. The former project received a dissertation award from the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB).

MS trained as an architect at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, and acquired an MSc in Architectural History at the University of Edinburgh as a Hamish Ogston Foundation Commonwealth Scholar. He has previously worked on various architectural design and research projects in Delhi, notably as a museum consultant for the Archaeological Survey of India. He was also a part of the Review of Race and History at the University of Edinburgh, where he helped devise a policy framework to address issues of race and gender in the nineteenth-century bust collection of Playfair Library, a Grade-I listed heritage space.

Prior to doctoral studies, Sam worked in urban science-policy engagement for a Sustainability Research Network supported by the US National Science Foundation and as a research associate with the global cities research team at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Professionally, he has contributed to reports commissioned by UN Environment, the World Bank, and NATO. His scholarly work has been published in  Global Environmental Change .

Sam holds master’s degrees in urban planning and Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies from Tulane University.

Ziwei holds a Master in Landscape Architecture, a Master in Design Studies in Urbanism, Landscape, Ecology from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), and a Bachelor of Architecture from Southeast University, China. She has also experience as an urban designer for one year for Stoss Landscape Urbanism, where she participated in projects in China, the U.S., and the United Arab Emirates.

You can learn more about Ziwei and her research here.

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How to Write a Good Academic Biography (Part 1)

When your journal article gets accepted or you are preparing for a public presentation, you will often be asked for a short academic biography. For many people, these academic bios are more difficult to write than a dissertation. How do you sum up yourself and your work in 3-5 sentences? What do you need to include? What should you leave out?

What You Should Do

• Start with your full name followed by your current position, your general interests, and your current project, keeping them all very brief.
• If you are within a year of receiving a prestigious award, mention that as well.
• Finally, finish with a sentence that’s personal: add a hobby, a pet’s name, the city you live in—whatever you are comfortable with that is personal but not too private.

What You Should Avoid

• Avoid speaking in the first person, i.e., don’t use “I.”
• Don’t divulge details beyond your current position.
• In a longer bio of multiple paragraphs, you may add more awards and information about your master’s and bachelor’s degrees, but not in a short bio. Moreover, don’t add anything that happened before grad school—including your place of birth. For example:

Hi! My name is Scott. I was originally born in Vermont and now I’m a professor at North Yankee University in Fargone, New York (in upstate New York). I study antelopes’ migration patterns and their impact of native grain growth. My interest in antelopes began as a teenager when I first saw one in the wild. I did my undergrad degree in biology at SUNY and my masters and UCLA and my PhD in Forestry at Hunter College.

Related: Finished drafting your academic biography and heading for an international conference? Check out this post now!

The above example is far too casual and Scott’s work and current position are overshadowed by all the other random details. This can be written in a much better way:

Scott Sampson is a professor of Wildlife Biology at North Yankee University. His work focuses specifically on the migration patterns of antelope and their impact on the growth of native grain. His favorite place to do research in his backyard, which opens to the Akron National Forest.

This improvised version is concise, relevant, and makes Scott’s bio appear professional while giving a short description of his personal details.

Longer Bios

For longer bios, follow the same basic rules, but go into a bit more depth about your work, your education, and your future projects or interests. You may also consider adding a line about your immediate family. But as always, leave the personal details for a short and friendly mention at the end of the bio.

Mostly, your bio will be used by someone to introduce you at a conference or public event so if you write your bio using these tips, you will help them give a smooth and accurate introduction. Remember that the bio is the first thing that people know about you so pack it full of the most important things about yourself!

If you would like to know more about different formats of academic biography, read the next article in this series!

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Greeting from Enago Academy! Thank you for your positive comment. We are glad to know that you found our resources useful. Your feedback is very valuable to us. Happy reading!

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Professional Bio-Writing 101

How to Write a Professional Bio as a College Student.

A well-written bio is a great tool to have in your professional toolkit. Whether for a job application, networking event, or as an introduction for future employers, your bio is a great way to share who you are and highlight your accomplishments. It can also be a great addition to your LinkedIn profile’s “Summary” section.

Depending on your year in college, your biography will vary in length and topics. For example, a senior may have more work or internship experience to write about than a first-year student, and can describe his/her job roles, skills, and professional interests. On the other hand, first-year students could focus their bio on their background, educational goals, and hobbies. In both cases, your bio should craft an engaging narrative that emphasizes your interests and personality.

Bios are written in the third person and are typically one or two paragraphs, depending on your level of experience. Your bio should start with your name and a quick sentence that describes your basic background. This can include your college, year in school, academic focus, and professional interest. Your bio should be brief, concise, and clear.

Establish a Background Story

Highlighting your background will give the reader an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of your personal narrative, which may not be evident on your resume. Also, consider including recent events, such as studying abroad or volunteering. Find a couple of moments in your life that have impacted your identity or interests, and briefly, mention them. This will personalize your bio and help you stand out from your peers.

Explain Your Interests

Next, you will want to elaborate on your interests. For students with a significant amount of professional experience, this will focus more on career goals. If you don’t feel you have enough job experience to write about or are not sure about your professional goals, describe your academic or extracurricular interests. Feel free to add any hobbies that highlight your uniqueness, such as painting, running marathons, or cooking. Remember, your personal biography is an area to describe your personality that is not as easily communicated on your resume.

Emphasize How You Can Add Value

Lastly, you want to end on a high note by emphasizing how you can add value. Depending on where you use this bio, this sentence or two can refer to adding value to a company, team, or event. Highlight your unique talents and skills that would interest your audience. Rather than explicitly stating, “I can add value by…,” share this message subtly. You want your reader to understand that you are a well-rounded individual and professional who can contribute significant knowledge and experience.

There is no order to include all of this information. Play with the format and see what works best for your narrative. Although it can be difficult to summarize your life in one paragraph, this is a useful tool for crafting a positive image of yourself for potential professional networks. Below are two examples:

Example 1 (for first-years and sophomores):

Alison Johnson is finishing her first year at DePaul University where she is interested in business. Although she has yet to declare a major, she’s considering finance or marketing. After watching her parents run a restaurant for years, she knew at a very young age that she also wanted to go into business. In high school, Alison waited tables at the family restaurant during the summer and was fascinated by the many working parts it takes to operate a successful business. From this experience, she learned the value of hard work, efficiency, and communication. In the future, she hopes to continue her parents’ legacy and run her own five-star restaurant in downtown Chicago. Alison spends her spare time singing in her church choir and cooking for friends and family.

Example 2 (for juniors and seniors):

Jared Smith is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he is majoring in International Studies with a concentration in Latin America. His interest in international development began during the fall semester of 2012 when he had the opportunity to study abroad in Peru. He learned about the inequalities affecting indigenous communities, experienced the Peruvian culture, and became proficient in Spanish. Inspired by this international experience, Jared interned with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, conducting research on food security in Latin America. Jared aspires to pursue a career in international development and write policy for a government agency. When he is not busy reading about current affairs in Latin America, he enjoys playing intramural basketball and training for the Chicago marathon.

More Resources

4 Steps to Writing a Professional Bio, Huffington Post

How to Write a Professional Bio, PROF KRG

6 Must-haves for Writing a Compelling Professional Bio, People Results

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Eat, Sleep, Wander

20+ Student Biography Examples

Welcome to the world of students! We have created an amazing collection of 30 student biography examples to help you write your own.

As a student, you are likely to be writing a variety of biographical pieces. Whether you are writing a personal profile for your CV, a biography for an awards application or a biography for a college admissions essay, it’s important that you construct an interesting and engaging narrative of who you are.

Student Biography Examples

1. Growing up I was always interested in the sciences and technology. In high school, I excelled in math and science classes, which led me to pursue a degree in engineering. I went on to earn my Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and am currently working on my Master’s in Civil Engineering. After I finish my degree, I plan to use my knowledge to help improve infrastructure in developing countries.

2. Since a young age, I have been passionate about helping people in need. During college, I decided to focus my studies on sociology and political science. I used my knowledge to take action and participated in several non-profit organizations to promote social justice. With the help of internships, I have also gained experience in policy development and public relations. I’m currently working on a graduate degree in Social Work and aim to eventually work for the United Nations .

3. As a freshman in high school, I was unsure of what kind of career path I wanted to pursue. After talking with my parents and teachers, I decided to start college as an undeclared major. After two years of exploration, I settled on a double major of business and economics. I’ve been able to take advantage of various opportunities on and off campus and served as an intern in the Human Resources department of a major banking firm. I look forward to earning my degree and using my skills to become a successful business leader.

4. I never thought that I had the ability to become a professional photographer, but my high school photography teacher pushed me to pursue my dreams. I learned how to use a variety of cameras, develop photographs, and post-process my images. I continued my photography studies at college, where I gained additional knowledge in studio lighting and digital editing. I was even able to gain experience in the fashion industry, interning for a well-known photographer . Today, I am working as an event photographer, documenting weddings, reunions, and corporate events.

5. When I was younger I was passionate about art, which prompted me to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. During college, I was able to gain experience as a studio assistant and also learn various digital and traditional art techniques. With the help of a scholarship, I was able to travel to various countries and learn even more about different art styles. After graduation, I started working as a freelance artist and have been able to produce several commissioned artworks and pieces.

6. As a child, I always exhibited an aptitude for mathematics and problem solving. After researching various career paths, I decided to major in Computer Science. I was able to gain valuable experience while interning at a tech startup and also during an internship with the Department of Defense. I am currently working on my master’s degree and plan to focus my studies on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

7. I have been involved in theater since I was a young child. During my high school years, I focused on honing my abilities through various extracurricular activities. I was able to gain valuable experience by participating in multiple productions and I even gained a scholarship for theater. I attended college to study Musical Theater and continued to foster my talent. With help from internships and workshops, I was able to build additional experience and formed a touring theater company with some of my colleagues.

8. From an early age, I was interested in the environment and the outdoors. I spent a lot of time reading environmental books and researching environmental issues. This passion inspired me to major in Environmental Science in college. I’ve gained valuable experience through various internships and part-time jobs. With the help of my degree, I’ve been able to work on several conservation projects and hope to soon work for a non-profit organization focused on sustainability.

9. When I graduated high school I wanted to focus my career on the medical field. After much research, I decided to major in Biomedical Engineering. During my time in college, I was able to gain a valuable experience by interning as a research assistant. I have been able to learn more about medical technology and have been able to contribute to various projects. I’m currently pursuing a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and plan to continue my research in the field and eventually work for a healthcare company.

10. I have always had an interest in fashion and design, so when the time came to decide my career path it made sense to pursue design. During college, I was able to study many aspects of fashion and gain experience through various internships. I was also able to travel to other countries to observe trends and learn about different cultures. With my degree, I am currently working as a fashion designer and I plan to continue to use my creative eye to come up with innovative and stylish designs.

More Student Biography Examples on the next page…