His research interests include German film, the literature and culture of the German-speaking Alps, and the influence of the Middle East in German culture. He has published on such diverse topics as the German mountain film, the poetry of Goethe, and Muslim minorities in Germany today. In addition to courses at all levels of German language and culture, he has taught recent courses such as Mountains in the German Cultural Imagination, Minority Cultures in the German Context and Modern German Film. This semester he is teaching German Literature and Culture of the First World War.