Josh works with students who are interested in finding research opportunities. He does this in a variety of ways, including working with students on how to reach out to faculty doing interesting research, working with faculty to identify students with whom they could work, running programs like the Martinson Applied Projects where that fund faculty members to take on FHC students to do research, providing research funding to students through opportunities like the Brakenridge Fellowship, and building relationships with external partners that do research with students, like the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where he is a Research Associate.
Josh was born in Jefferson City (Green County, PA) and raised in Pittsburgh. He joined the Marine Corps after high school and served for 5 years as an Arabic Cryptologic Linguist, including 2 tours in Iraq, and obtained the rank of sergeant. He then enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh, majored in Anthropology and Linguistics, and graduated with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from the Honors College. Immediately after graduating, he went to the University of Chicago for his PhD in the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department.
Josh is married and has three boys. He was an assistant coach for the University of Chicago wrestling team and is a big fan of amateur wrestling, boxing, and mixed martial arts. He will enthusiastically debate you on who would win in any imaginary head-to-head match-up in these sports.
Read more about Josh's work:
- Diploma, Arabic, Defense Language Institute
- BPhil, Anthropology and Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh
- MA, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
- PhD, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
Education & Training
2025 – (in press) Fatal Second Helen: A Veteran’s Iliad, Blue Ear Books, Seattle, Washington.
2025 - (in press) “The Origin and Impetus behind the Hittite AN.TAḪ.ŠUM Festival” in Theo van den Hout and Petra Goedgeburre (eds) ‘Acts of the 31st, International Congress of Hittitology’, Oriental Institute, Chicago.
2025 – (in press) “Supporting NSF GRFP Applicants” in the 2024 National Association of Fellowship Advisors Proceedings, University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville. (w/Lesha Greene, Dave Frasier, and Aidan Beatty).
2019 - “When the Giant Falls: Endurance and Adaptation at Çadır Höyük in the Context of the Hittite Empire and Its Collapse”, Journal of Field Archaeology 44/1, 19-39 (w/Sharon Steadman, Jennifer Ross, Ben Arbuckle, and Sarah Adcock).
2017 - “Semi-automated Detection of Looting in Afghanistan Using Multispectral Imagery and Principal Component Analysis”, Antiquity 91, 1344-1355 (w/Tony Lauricella, Scott Branting, and Emily Hammer).
Archaeology, Near Eastern Studies, Historical Geography, Linguistics, 3D scanning
