He earned a Dual PhD in Communication and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014. His research is situated at the intersection of identity, memory/future thinking, conflict and media and focuses on the politics, discourse and theory of boundaries, their formation, maintenance, alteration and deployment. He is the author of the forthcoming book Home\grown: The Double in the American War on Terror (NYU Press) which examines the mobilization of identity and media in practices of terrorism and counterterrorism.