Daniel DiMassa is a scholar of German literature and culture from the eighteenth century to the present. His research interests center on the intersection of literature, religion, and aesthetics in the wake of the Enlightenment, with a particular interest in how literary texts participate in religious and mythical enterprises. His articles have appeared in German Quarterly, Religion and Literature, and the Goethe-Jahrbuch. He's finishing a book manuscript that charts the significance of Dante as a poetic muse among German Romantics, Idealists, and Neo-Romantics. At WPI, Professor DiMassa teaches courses on German language, literature, and film history. Students in his recent seminars have explored literary accounts of classical German science, as well as filmic meditations on the rise of fascism during and after the Weimar Republic.

In addition to his teaching, DiMassa is an avid participant in WPI's Global Studies Division. He has twice advised projects in Switzerland, and once in Thailand. In fall 2018, he will advise a group of students completing a project on the integration of refugees in Warstein, Germany.