History Research
At Adelphi University, history research invites students to engage deeply with questions about the past, interpretation, and the forces that have shaped societies across time.
From your first year, you can explore areas such as ancient civilizations, modern world history, colonial and postcolonial studies, intellectual history, cultural history, and the history of science, medicine, and ideas. Through coursework and independent study, students learn to analyze historical evidence, construct well-supported interpretations, and understand how past events continue to shape the present.
To receive credit for research:
- Speak with faculty about their research areas early in your first year
- Identify topics that align with your interests and goals
- Develop a research question with faculty guidance
- Register for independent study or honors research with approval
Students present their work at the Adelphi Scholarship and Creative Works Conference and may also share their research at regional and national conferences.
Through the SPARK Center (Scholars Pursuing Arts, Research and Knowledge), students can receive funding, mentorship, and support for independent research and conference presentations.
Faculty Research and Areas of Focus
Kirsten Ziomek, PhD is a historian of modern Japan specializing in the Japanese empire and the lived experiences of colonized and Indigenous peoples. Her research draws on textual, oral, visual, and material sources to examine colonial and wartime histories. She is the author of Lost Histories: Recovering the Lives of Japan’s Colonial Peoples (2019) and currently studies the experiences of colonial and Indigenous soldiers, laborers, and civilians during World War II.
Abdin Chande, PhD is a historian of Africa whose research focuses on African political, social, and economic history. His work examines the historical forces that have shaped African societies and their global connections, with attention to colonial and postcolonial transformations.
Martin Haas, PhD is a historian of modern Europe whose research explores political, social, and cultural change. His work examines how institutions, ideas, and historical events have shaped modern European societies.
Edward Reno, PhD studies the history of the Catholic Church through the early modern period, with a focus on medieval canon law in the 12th and 13th centuries. His work examines how the Church developed into a centralized, international institution under papal authority. His research includes Catholic Church history, medieval Europe, canon law and manuscript studies.
Michael Christofferson, PhD studies 20th-century French history, with a focus on political thought and historical writing. His research examines debates among historians and intellectuals about the French Revolution and modern France, and how interpretations of history shape political and cultural understanding. He is the author of François Furet: A Historian at War with Revolution (Verso Books, 2027). His work also explores photography as a historical source and its relationship to documenting contemporary life, including a project on Queens, New York.
M. Cristina Zaccarini, PhD researches the history of women in the United States and China, as well as Daoist and Buddhist thought in contemporary contexts. Her work explores gender, religion, and cross-cultural intellectual traditions, focusing on how historical ideas continue to shape modern societies.
Anagnostis Agelarakis, PhD is a historian and bioarchaeologist whose research integrates osteology and historical analysis to study human remains in archaeological contexts. His work reconstructs past populations, health, and cultural practices through scientific and historical methods.
Michael A. LaCombe, PhD is a historian of medicine whose research explores the history of science, medical knowledge, and healthcare systems. His book Political Gastronomy focuses on the English Atlantic world before 1650, and in particular, the role of food in interactions between English travelers and native groups. He also examines the study of knowledge production within the genre of English travel writing.
Micah Oelze, PhD is a cultural historian of Latin America and the Caribbean whose research explores music, nationalism, and modern cultural history. His first book, Composers of the Unconscious, recovers the story of early twentieth-century Brazilian musicians who tried to use music to regulate the bodies of factory workers and build out nationalist feelings in listeners’ unconscious minds. He is also co-authoring a book on teaching history in the digital age.