Josh advises students who are interested in applying for scholarships, fellowships, and other awards. While he enthusiastically supports students on any award, Josh is particularly focused on helping students interested in National Science Foundations (NSF) awards, the Boren Scholarship and Fellowship, the Critical Languages Scholarship and the Goldwater Scholarship. He is also a co-chair of the Pitt Veterans Affinity Group.
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 Bachelors of Philosophy degree from the Honors College. Immediately after graduating, he went to the University of Chicago to pursue a 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. If this is done while smoking cigars, all the better!
Read more about Josh's work:
2024 - (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.
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
