The International Interfaith Research Lab Team
Our extraordinary team of researchers, educators, data analysts, and education technology specialists bring together years of teaching and curriculum management experience to provide support for our program’s design, implementation, maintenance, and sustainable growth.
Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess is a scholar, award-winning author, and the Founding and Executive Director of the International Interfaith Research Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Sabic-El-Rayess has taught, researched, and published on a range of issues in education, including Educational Displacement, targeted violence, hate prevention, interfaith collaboration, anti-Muslim racism, storytelling, radicalization, othering, transitional justice, corruption, social cohesion, social mobility, and social transformation.
Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess is a scholar, award-winning author, and the Founding and Executive Director of the International Interfaith Research Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Sabic-El-Rayess has taught, researched, and published on a range of issues in education, including Educational Displacement, targeted violence, hate prevention, interfaith collaboration, anti-Muslim racism, storytelling, radicalization, othering, transitional justice, corruption, social cohesion, social mobility, and social transformation. She has delivered 100+ invited lectures in the U.S., South Korea, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, Qatar, Germany, Austria, Indonesia, China, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Turkey, Morocco, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, the United Kingdom, and India. She is a recipient of research grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships; the Muslim World League; Smith Richardson Foundation; the U.S. State Department; Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Kennan Institute; International Research and Exchange Board; Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies; and Women’s World Banking. She was awarded a 2021 Finalist Medal for Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction by the American Library Association and Best Book recognition by School Library Journal, Malala Fund, Capitol Choices, and Children’s Center for Literature for her biographical exploration of resilience to targeted violence and hate. The Cat I Never Named (Bloomsbury, 2020) has been integrated into the K-12 curricula and higher education institutions throughout the United States as one of the defining texts on resilience to hate and empowerment through education. Three Summers (Macmillan Publishers-FSG, 2024), is a story of sisterhood and resilience in the three years leading up to the Bosnian Genocide. In her students’ feedback, Amra is consistently praised as one of the most inspiring professors they have encountered.
Vikramaditya (Vik) Joshi develops strategic partnerships with the Lab, collaborates on the production of scholarly research and publications and conceptualizes the organization and management of all programming at the Lab. He is a Doctoral Candidate in the Philosophy and Education Program at Columbia University (Teachers College). He has served as a Fellow at Columbia University’s Center for Justice.
Vikramaditya (Vik) Joshi supports developing strategic partnerships with the Lab, collaborates on the production of scholarly research and publications, and conceptualizes the organization and management of all programming in accordance with the Lab's stated Mission and Values. He is a Doctoral Candidate in the Philosophy and Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Literature from Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, New York) and an M.A. in Biography and Creative Non-Fiction from the University of East Anglia (Norwich, United Kingdom). He has served first as a Teaching Fellow and subsequently as a member of the faculty of the Bard Prison Initiative – a college-in-prison program at maximum and medium security prisons in Up-state New York. He has served as a Fellow at Columbia University’s Center for Justice.