Dick Davis

Dick Davis is Professor and Chair of the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department at Ohio State University. His particular interest is medieval Persian poetry, but he is also concerned with the history and problems of verse translation. His published works include translations of the Manteq Altair of Attar (1984, with Afkham Darbandi); an edition of Fitzgerald's translations of Khayyam (1990), The Legend of Seyavash of Ferdowsi (1992), and Epic and Sedition: A Study of Ferdowsi's 'Shahnameh' (1992). His most recent publications are "Panthea's Children: Hellenistic Novels and Medieval Persian Romances" (2002), and three volumes of translations from the Shahnameh (1998, 2000, 2003).

Arash Afraz

Arash Afraz is a post-doctoral fellow at M.I.T. in the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. He received his PhD in Psychology from Harvard University, Vision Science Laboratory in 2009 and his MD from Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2003.  In addition to his work on the brain and visual awareness, Dr. Afraz, originally from Iran, has studied the history of the practice of science in Iran, with a particular focus on the period during which The Shahnameh was composed. 

Elaheh Kheirandish

Elaheh Kheirandish is a historian of science (PhD, Harvard ’91) with a specialty in sciences in Islamic lands. Her main research area is the history of mathematical sciences with a focus on mixed mathematical-physical sciences such as optics and mechanics. Her projects and publications have ranged from the Arabic and Persian traditions of ancient Greek sciences to the applications of the new technologies to historical studies. Her most recent work includes hosting with guest students from these courses, an exhibit at Houghton Library entitled: "Windows into Early Science: Historical Dialogues, Scientific Manuscripts and Printed Books.”

Iraj Anvar

Iraj Anvar is a professor of Persian Language and Culture at Brown University.  In the 1970s he co-founded the Tehran Theatre Workshop and served as one of its directors and performers.  As a result of his artistic and scholarly work he was offered a scholarship by the Iranian government to attend NYU in 1978 to continue his theatrical research. With the advent of the Iranian Revolution he transferred to the Department of the Near Eastern Studies and pursued a PhD, which he obtained in 1991. For the past three decades he has been teaching Persian Language and Culture at NYU, Harvard, Columbia and University of Wisconsin.  His research focuses on the difficulties of translating classical and modern Persian literature into English.