2026 Graduate Interns
khadijah j. akeem-cox
PhD Candidate
The George Washington University
khadijah j. akeem-cox is a PhD student in American Studies at The George Washington University. Her research interests lie at the intersections of black feminist theory and praxis, Islam in the U.S., and resistance movements of the 20th century. She researches the sociocultural history of Washington, DC, particularly the proliferation of Islam and Black Muslim women’s involvement in community formations in the late 20th and early 21st century.
Host Organization: CAIR Minnesota
Project: Mapping and Strengthening Muslim Spiritual Infrastructure in Minnesota
Moses Biney
Doctoral Candidate
Rice University
Moses Ohene Biney is a Doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at Rice University and a Graduate Scholar at the Religion and Public Life Center under the Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance. His research interests include religion, immigration, health, science, and culture. He examines how African immigrants navigate assimilation and health in the United States, with particular attention to how religion shapes immigrant experiences and health behaviors. His dissertation explores how Ghanaian immigrants integrate religion and medicine in approaches to health and the role religious congregations play in these practices.
Host Organization: Norton Healthcare
Project: A Solution-Oriented Assessment of Faith Communities’ Health Engagement
Peter Dziedzic
PhD Candidate
Harvard University
Peter Dziedzic is a PhD Candidate (ABD) in the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University. His dissertation, "In the Garden of Nightingales: Kashmiri Rishi Sufism and an Islamic Ecopoetics," explores the development of a nascent and innovative Islamic environmental theology of the more-than-human world in the writings and practices of the Kashmiri Rishi Sufi order. More generally, Peter is interested in pilgrimage practices in Kashmir and beyond and global traditions of Sufi literature.
Host Organization: The Conversation
Project: Collaborative, Evidence-Based Religion Journalism for the Public Good
Jake Green
PhD Student
University of Virginia
Jacob Green is a PhD student in Media Studies at the University of Virginia, where he also completed his MA in Religious Studies. His research examines platform cultures, religion and artificial intelligence, and the emergent ritual practices of digital life. He graduated with a BA in English and Religious Studies from Rollins College in 2021.
Host Organization: ICJS
Project: Developing AI for Interfaith Literacy and Dialogue
Alex Gruber
Doctoral Candidate
Fordham University
Alex Gruber is a third-year doctoral candidate specializing in modern historical theology at Fordham University. His research focuses on U.S. Catholic and Indigenous interactions, traditions, and approaches to land. He aims to create a place-based religious history of northeastern Wisconsin with attention to the Menominee and Oneida Indigenous nations, Walloon settlers, and the Norbertine or Premonstratensian Order of Canons Regular.
Host Organization: Coalition for Spiritual & Public Leadership
Project: Discerning Our Way Forward: A Spiritual Toolkit for Justice Leaders
Eric Gu
PhD Student
University of California, Irvine
Eric Gu is a PhD student in Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. Interested in the intersection of media, religion, and political anthropology, his current research is on the politics of social media influencers between the US and East Asia.
Host Organization: Interfaith America
Project: Reviving Pluralism: Charting the Next Chapter of an American Tradition
Chloe Landen
PhD Student
University of Texas at Austin
Chloe Landen is a PhD student in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research broadly examines the intersections between Protestantism, racial violence, and gender in the twentieth-century U.S. South.
Host Organization: Religion News Service
Project: Enriching Public Understanding of Religion Through Digital Media
Rose Miller
PhD Student
University of Southern California
Rose Miller is a PhD student in the School of Religion at the University of Southern California. She researches women’s reproductive lives in early Christian literature.
Host Organization: Jewish Women's Archive
Project: Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women
Izzak Novak
PhD Candidate
Northwestern University
Izzak Novak is a PhD candidate in the Religious Studies Department at Northwestern University. His research seeks out the unexpected, unruly, and, to some, unwanted ways religion surfaces in US culture. He is currently exploring hunting as emblematic of the bleeding between various domains of culture and as a catalyst for multi-being relationships. Broadly, he is interested in the legal and cultural negotiation of religion and “spirituality”; religious freedom and religion and the law; neoliberalism and religion; and the religious work performed by children, adolescents, and young adults.
Host Organization: American Friends Service Committee
Project: Quaker Action for Migrant Justice
Robyn West
PhD Student
Chicago Theological Seminary
Robyn West is a PhD student at Chicago Theological Seminary with a focus in Theology and Cultural Criticism. Her research interests include education and pedagogy, spirituality, wholeness, and community.
Host Organization: Operation Shoestring
Project: Enhancing Networks of Support for Jackson’s Youth with Faith Communities