Lev Michael is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. With a methodological grounding in language documentation, his research focuses on the socio-cultural dimensions of grammar and language use, typology, language contact in South America, and the historical linguistics of Arawak, Tupí-Guaraní, and Zaparoan languages. He has carried out fieldwork with speakers of Aʔɨwa (isolate), Iquito (Zaparoan), Matsigenka (Arawak), Máíhɨ̃ki (Tukanoan), Muniche (isolate), Nanti (Arawak), Omagua (Tupí-Guaraní), and Sápara (Zaparoan).  In his engagement with Amazonian indigenous communities, he is also involved in language revitalization, and in training and collaborating with community linguists.