Montgomery is a Research Professor in the Department of Government and Politics and the Center for International Development and Conflict Management; Affiliate Faculty with Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security; and Director of Program Development for CEDAR--Communities Engaging with Difference and Religion. He has conducted long-term anthropological field research in Central Asia and the Balkans on social, religious, and political change; taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Emory University, and Boston University; and directed the Minerva Research Initiative. His books include Central Asia: Contexts for Understanding, Everyday Life in the Balkans, Practicing Islam: Knowledge, Experience, and Social Navigation in Kyrgyzstan, and Living with Difference: How to Build Community in a Divided World.