I am a historian, digital humanist, and public scholar working to reimagine how the past informs a more connected future. My research explores how Christian, Jewish, and Islamic communities shaped medieval and early modern Europe, especially through Sephardic Jewish and converso histories. I believe the humanities should deepen understanding, foster human connection, and spark imagination across global contexts.
As a researcher, I study identity, migration, and intercultural exchange from medieval Iberia to the early colonial Americas. My book Creating Conversos and my co-curation of Fractured Faiths: Spanish Judaism, The Inquisition, and New World Identities museum exhibition link archival work to contemporary questions of heritage and belonging. By conducting fieldwork in forty archives across Europe and the Americas, I help bring new sources to light for scholars and communities.nds the sources available to scholars and communities.
As an educator, I mentor students and colleagues to think structurally and ethically about the past. I co-directed the NEH-funded Immersive Global Middle Ages Advanced Digital Humanities Institute, guiding international teams using VR/AR to reimagine medieval spaces. My teaching integrates digital archives, mapping, and virtual reconstruction to cultivate interdisciplinary and global learning.
As a public historian, I design participatory pathways into the historical record. I founded Deciphering Secrets: Unlocking the Manuscripts of Medieval Spain, which has enaged nearly 50,000 people via MOOCs to study and transcribe medieval manuscripts, and I advise the BADDO Project on ethical AI in historical interpretation.
Through the Plus Ultra Collective, I build collaborations that unite scholars, technologists, and cultural institutions. My purpose is to help people and institutions reach farther — in imagination, connection, and action — by merging deep historical inquiry with innovative digital practice.
Expertise and Experience
Mentor students and colleagues in immersive, global storytelling — Co-directed the NEH-funded Immersive Global Middle Ages Institute (2021–23), guiding international teams to use VR/AR for experiential learning and digital research through projects like Virtual Plasencia.
Integrate teaching, research, and discovery through collaboration — Founder of Deciphering Secrets, a global citizen-science project training nearly 50,000 participants to transcribe medieval manuscripts, advance paleography, and expand open-access research collections.
Bridge scholarship and public understanding of identity — Author of Creating Conversos and co-curator of Fractured Faiths, connecting archival research on Sephardic and converso histories with contemporary explorations of heritage and belonging.
Lead ethical innovation in AI-assisted scholarship — Advise the BADDO Project (UC3M), developing explainable AI for historical interpretation and mentoring students in data ethics, digital methods, and humanistic research design.
Conduct global fieldwork and interdisciplinary inquiry — Research across 40+ archives in Spain, Portugal, the Vatican, Mexico, Bolivia, and the U.S., linking manuscripts and material culture to museums, educators, and the public.
Build inclusive, international learning communities — Founder of the Plus Ultra Collective, mentoring emerging scholars and coordinating collaborations among universities, cultural institutions, and creative technologists worldwide.
Advance global education through leadership and research excellence — Marie Curie Fellow (UC3M) and Professor of History at the University of Colorado, developing programs supported by U.S. and European funders that integrate research, pedagogy, and public engagement.
Virtual Plasencia, Spain:
The Medieval Vines of Three Faiths
(A cooperative strategy game)
Cultivate vineyards across 15th-century Plasencia, managing production and tithes while fostering collaboration between diverse religious communities. Navigate shared resources and social dynamics, ensuring interfaith trust and collective prosperity to prevent economic and social collapse (A Runway Game World)
A bit of my work
Collaborative and Core Efforts
Plus Ultra Collective
The Plus Ultra Collective combines humanistic studies and technology to deepen understanding of historical examples of intercultural interchange in the Americas, Iberia, and the Mediterranean World.
Immersive Global
Middle Ages
Deciphering Secrets:
Unlocking the Manuscripts
of Medieval Spain
Tne Immersive Global Middle Ages Institute advanced digital humanities, integrating immersive technology with traditional, global, multidisciplinary medieval studies.
A collaborative citizen science project focused on revealing the inter-religious relations of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and religious converts in medieval Spain.
BADDO
Bringing AI to the Discovery of Historiographical Data to Overcome Traditional Barriers, a study to assess the extent to which human expertise influences the objectivity and accuracy of outcomes compared to AI-generated results.
The Queen Sofía
Spanish Institute: America&Spain250
The organizations and individuals behind this initiative are developing educational programs and cultural activities across United States in celebration of 250 years of the relationship between the USA, Spain, and the Spanish-speaking world.
Sephardic Ancestry
A collection of original scholarly writings, primary sources, and peer-reviewed research that illuminates the ancestry amd history of Sephardic Jews from Spain, Portugal, as well as their diasporic migrations after 1492.
Virtual Plasencia
Virtual Plasencia is collaborative entity that is digitally recreating the virtual world of medieval Plasencia, Spain. Windows OS Virtual Plasencia App: Download here (200 Mb). Digital narrative on YouTube.com: View “La Mota”
La Reimaginación de la Edad Media Global:
Un enfoque de inteligencia artificial para explorar los intercambios culturales
Reimagining the Global Middle Ages: An Artificial Intelligence Approach to Exploring Cultural Exchanges
Let's connect
I look forward to hearing from you.
