The Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies at Columbia University sponsored this workshop to discuss graduate student research reflecting transregional and comparative approaches to studying the Russian and Ottoman empires. Student presentations were limited to 10-12 minutes, as their papers had been distributed in advance to facilitate discussion. The workshop was part of a research project titled "Russia and Islam: Religion, the State and Modernity during and after the Age of Empire," directed by Mark Mazower (Columbia University), and was attended by graduate students from several countries studying in the United States and United Kingdom and scholars working in the greater New York area.