Sumaiya Hamdani is Associate Professor of History at George Mason University, where she teaches courses on Middle East, Islamic and world history, as well Women in Islam, Race and Slavery in Islam, and Crusade and Jihad, among other topics.  She also serves on the steering committee of the Global Islamic Studies Center at GMU and is a program faculty member of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program there. Her current research is on Tayyibi Ismaili or Bohra history in Yemen and India, and she has published on Ismaili Shii thought, and Fatimid history.  Her work has been supported by numerous grants and opportunities including those offered by the Institute of Ismaili Studies, which published her monograph Between Revolution and State: the Path to Fatimid Statehood in conjunction with IB Tauris (London 2006).