Meredith P. Nelson is a classical archaeologist and art historian with an M.A. from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, and a Ph.D. from the Bard Graduate Center. She has held several research positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Musée Art & Histoire in Brussels, Belgium. Her research centers on visual and material expressions of identity and status throughout the Roman Empire, with a special interest in adornment, dress, and portraiture. She teaches art history and archaeology courses at the Academy of Lifelong Learning at NYU SPS.