Dr. Alon Tam was the 2021–22 postdoctoral fellow at the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. He is a social and cultural historian of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times, and of that region's Jewish communities. His research interests broadly include urban history, social relations and identities, historical anthropology, culture and politics. Inspired by his Egyptian–Jewish heritage, his recent research examines the Jewish community in Egypt, its ties to the pre-state Jewish community in Palestine, and the history of the community’s migration to, and integration in, the State of Israel since 1948.

During his tenure at UCLA, Dr. Tam taught two courses related to his expertise, including "Israel in the Middle East" in Fall quarter in the UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, and a second course in the Spring. Dr. Tam has previously taught at Columbia University, and at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He was the Rabin-Shvidler Fellow at Columbia and Fordham, and a fellow at Penn’s Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. He also holds an MA and BA degrees from Tel Aviv University in Middle East Studies, and in Arabic Language and Literature.