Alena holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Arizona. Most recently, she has been a lecturer in the Writing Program at Princeton University, where her extensive pedagogical training and experience led to a nomination for the Presidential Award for Distinguished Teaching. Alena is a Roman archaeologist who studies religion and gender in the Roman provinces. Her research using computational analysis of material remnants to catch sight of marginalized groups in the archaeological record is informed by her work as the Field Director and Database Manager of the Arizona Sicily Project’s excavations at Segesta. Her interest in the sociopolitics of materialities of the past has found its way into invited lectures, conference talks on gender and big data, and a publication in the American Journal of Archaeology. She loves trying out long and complicated recipes, taking short hikes, and listening to podcasts.