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Academic Diversity Fellowship

Hiring for this position has been postponed until Academic Year 26-27.
If you have recently completed your doctoral studies, you will still be eligible for the position when hiring reopens.

  • The Postdoctoral Fellowships for Academic Diversity are designed to support the development of early-career scholars who show promise of distinguished research careers and who are from sectors of the population historically underrepresented on the professorial faculties of US colleges and universities.
  • The initial appointment is a 12-month term position and will commence in the fall semester with the possibility of a one-year extension.
  • The position will require the incumbent to conduct research with an Â鶹ÊÓƵ faculty mentor or mentors, teach one course per Academic Year in their field and participate in School and University activities. Optionally, there will be zero courses in the second Academic Year for lab science fellows.
  • Salary is competitive and includes full health benefits. Fellows will also receive a one-time stipend of $2,000 (before taxes) to help offset relocation expenses, and may be reimbursed for up to $3,000 in eligible research expenses each year.


Current Postdocs

Shashank Aswathanarayana

Shashank Aswathanarayana

Shashank Aswathanarayana is a music technologist, percussionist and researcher from Bengaluru, India. He is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Audio Technology at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. He received a PhD in Media Arts and Technology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He also holds a Master’s degree in Music Technology from New York University (NYU) and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) in India.

Shashank's research interests include spatial/3D audio, psychoacoustics, soundscape studies, music, and religious studies. Currently he is working on studying the Acoustics of Hindu Temples in India.

Mentor: Braxton Boren

Selin Secil Akin

Selin Secil Akin

Dr. Selin Secil Akin is a Postdoctoral Fellow for Academic Diversity in the Economics Department at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. She is affiliated with the Program on Gender Analysis in Economics. She received her PhD in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She holds an MA degree from Ankara University and a BSc degree from the Middle East Technical University. Prior to joining Â鶹ÊÓƵ, she worked as a research fellow at Ankara University, where she taught Intermediate Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics, Contemporary Global Issues, and Economics of Gender. She was also an associate editor for Ankara University SBF Journal between 2020-2022.

Her research focuses on gender and macroeconomics. She wrote her dissertation on the impact of fiscal and monetary policies on gender specific employment outcomes. She is currently working on the following areas: gender aware macroeconomic modeling, gender equality and macroeconomic policies, and the relationship between unpaid elderly care work and female labor force participation.

Mentor:ÌýMieke Meurs

Afghan Exile Scholar Fellowship

Current Postdoc

M. Bashir Mobasher

M. Bashir Mobasher

M. Bashir Mobasher is a postdoctoral fellow at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Department of Sociology. Prior to that, Bashir was an assistant professor of political science at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ of Afghanistan between 2018 and 2021. In addition to his academic experience, he has several years of working experience with USAID’s rule of law project (2010-2013) INL’s legal education reform project (2017-2020), Max Planck’s administrative & constitutional law reform (2021), and International IDEA’s multiple research projects (2021-2022). Dr. Bashir is an expert in constitutional design in divided societies. He has authored, reviewed, and supervised numerous research projects on constitutional law, electoral systems, and identity politics. His recent research projects are centered around decentralization prospects in plural Afghanistan, discrimination and law, divided legal systems in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the politics of ethnic accommodation. Dr. Bashir obtained his BAÌý(2007) from the School of Law and Political Science at Kabul University, and his LLM (2010) and PhD (2017) from the University of Washington School of Law.

Mentor:ÌýErnesto Castañeda

About the Fellowship

This fellowship is designed to support the further development of a scholar with a strong record of research and teaching who would incur personal risk if they were to return to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of that country.

Postdoctoral Fellow in Holocaust Studies

In conjunction with the USÌýHolocaust Memorial Museum, Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Jewish Studies Program hosts a postdoctoral fellow in Holocaust Studies.ÌýÌý

This fellowship is awarded to an emerging scholar in Holocaust Studies, broadly conceived, who demonstrates evidence for a promising scholarly trajectory and potential for excellence in teaching. The position will require the incumbent to teach one course per semester (fall and spring) per Academic Year at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. Course assignments are made in consultation with the Director of the Jewish Studies Program. The fellow will be expected to hold office hours and participate in Â鶹ÊÓƵ activities.Ìý

In addition, the fellow will join the current cohort of fellows at the USÌýHolocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and will be expected to conduct research in the USHMM’s collections and participate in the ongoing activities, including the weekly fellows’ seminar, of the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies.Ìý

Salary and benefits are competitive. Â鶹ÊÓƵ is a private institution within easy reach of the many centers of government, business, research, and the arts located within the nation's capital. Our more than 12,000 students are globally diverse, and the university's mission is carried out by 848 full-time faculty and nearly 1,700 full­ time staff. 94 percent of full-time faculty hold the highest degree in their field and among our adjunct faculty are policy makers, diplomats, journalists, artists, writers, scientists and business leaders.

Please contact Professor Pamela Nadell, Director of the Jewish Studies Program, pnadell@american.edu if you have any questions.


Current Postdoc

Dr. Julie Keresztes

Julie Keresztes

Dr. Julie Keresztes is a historian of modern Germany who specializes in the Third Reich and the Holocaust. She is the 2022-2024 Â鶹ÊÓƵ and Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies Postdoctoral Fellow. She previously taught at Tufts University from 2020 to 2022. Keresztes received her PhDÌýwith distinction in History from Boston University and is the recipient of fellowships and grants from the German Historical Institute, the Leo Baeck Institute, the American Academy for Jewish Research, and the Central European History Society.

She is currently finishing a book manuscript on photography in Nazi Germany, and is working on a critical biography of Heinrich Hoffmann, Adolf Hitler’s personal photographer. Her work has also appeared in the academic journals German History and Contemporary European History.