#  Research Assistants 

 



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  [### Alyjan Daya

 ](/people/alyjan-daya) <adaya@fas.harvard.edu>Student Assistant

 

 

 Alyjan Daya is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Near Eastern Languages &amp; Civilizations at Harvard University, specializing in Islamic Studies. He researches the history and development of Ismaili theology and philosophy in the tenth and eleventh... 

 

 

      ![Alyan Daya smiling into the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-04/IMG_2498.JPG?itok=9CHYlV-U) 

 

 

 

   [### Gio DiRusso

 ](/people/giovanni-dirusso) <gdirusso@hds.harvard.edu>Student Assistant

 

 

 Giovanni (Gio) DiRusso is a G3 in the Committee on the Study of Religion, specializing in Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean. He researches the transmission of ideas in the long late antiquity, with a particular focus on Eastern Christian thought in... 

 

 

      ![Gio DiRusso headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/hds_cswr/files/giodirusso_400x400.jpg?itok=vRhTJYtQ) 

 

 

 

   [### Charles Zacks

 ](/people/charles-zacks) <czacks@hds.harvard.edu>Student Assistant

 

 

 Charles M Zacks is a Master of Theological Studies student at Harvard Divinity School, focusing on religious origins, theories of religion, and Continental Philosophy of Religion. Before starting at HDS, he studied Religious Studies and Jewish Studies at... 

 

 

      ![Charles Zacks' Image](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-05/image%202.jpeg?h=0a606728&itok=f31qZFLY)