Brian is a first year Ph.D. student in CRDM. He received his bachelor’s degree in Arab Studies with a focus in Arabic Language from UNC Chapel Hill, and his Master’s in Linguistics from UNC Chapel Hill. His research focuses on the rhetoric of extremist groups online. His Master’s thesis introduced a novel computational linguistic method for analyzing Islamic State media. Other work has included the use of revolutionary language in 2011’s Arab Spring uprising in Egypt, the role of leftist identities in the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution, the linguistic constriction of political identities in Eritrea, and the pragmatics of codeswitching in the recruitment speeches of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader, Anwar al-Awlaki.
Since working on extremist content is super heavy stuff, he settles his nerves by reading X-Men comics and horror novels. He is a fan of cheesy horror movies, James Bond flicks, and sci-fi (Star Wars over Star Trek any day). He is a father of one precocious seven-year-old daughter who has taught him what and who LOL surprise and JoJo Siwa are.