Dr. Casey Allen (a Fulbright Alumnus from the American Scholars cohort of 2015-2016) had returned to Jordan in 2019, this time accompanying his wife and fellow researcher, Dr. Kaelin Groom who was now in Jordan as a Fulbright Grantee herself under the same award of American Scholars to Jordan for the 2019-2020 cycle. 

With their extensive backgrounds and deep knowledge as geographers and avid researchers, each in their own right, we were fortunate to have both Dr. Allen and Dr. Groom return to Jordan. Dr. Groom was conducting research in the ancient city of Petra that was the first of its kind, focusing on locating and repeating exact images of Petra taken over 100 years ago by early western explorers like Sir Alexander Kennedy, Brünnow and Domaszewski, Libby and Hoskins, and Gustav Dalman. 

Unfortunately, their time with us was cut short due to the pandemic that has affected everyone locally and globally, and they had to be part of the group that was evacuated back to the United States back in March of this year.

Drs. Allen and Groom wrote a beautiful and insightful personal essay about their time in Jordan and shared their experience having to navigate the uncertainty and fast changing circumstances that developed leading to their early departure to the United States. The article also touches upon the research that Dr. Kaelin was conducting (you can read more about the research HERE), which Dr. Allen assisted in, and also chronicles their journey leading up those last couple of weeks in Jordan and arriving safely back to the US.

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You can read the full essay by visiting the following link which was published in the May issue of the Geographical Bulletin HERE.

You can read more about Dr. Casey's work HERE.