Selin Aran is a Ph.D. student in Art History at Rutgers University. Her research focuses on the history of archaeology, photography, and cultural heritage in the Middle East, particularly in the Ottoman Empire, exploring the role of foreign archaeologists in the region and the global impact on cultural heritage histories.
Her broader research interests include Ottoman visual culture, art and history in the Middle East, and themes such as nationalism, imperialism, and Orientalism and their effects on art and cultural heritage. She was awarded the Walter G. Andrews Graduate Student Ottoman Language Summer School Tuition Scholarship by the American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages, which allowed her to study Ottoman Turkish at the Intensive Ottoman Turkish Summer School in Cunda, Turkey.
In her free time, she enjoys photography, visiting museums, exploring street food, and listening to music.