Through examining the Bengali Charyāpada songs of realization, Brent's research focuses on the origins of Vajrayana Buddhism in medieval India. His honors thesis "Globalization of the Gaze: Divine and Secular Seeing in the Durga Puja of Kolkata" was an ethnographic study of globalization and UNESCO influence on the world's largest Hindu goddess worshipping festival. He enjoys interdisciplinary collaboration, street photography, and endless ethnography.