Xelef Botan is a graduate student and a research assistant at CPOST’s militant propaganda project. He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University in International Relations. He is currently in second year of his Master's degree at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on the political and institutional developments taking place in the North and East Syria - Rojava. Nationalism, human rights, minorities, languages and literature are some of his major interest areas within the wider Middle Eastern Studies. Xelef is currently a member of the Minerva Project team analyzing ISIS videos released in Kurdish and Turkish. He expects to graduate in the spring of 2019.