Welcome!

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Emory University.

My research examines how states govern through violence and non-state intermediaries, with a focus on criminal groups, militias, and other armed actors. I study how these relationships shape state capacity, democratic accountability, and civilian security across both historical and contemporary contexts.

I combine archival research and causal inference with mixed-methods approaches, drawing upon evidence from Mexico, British India, Northern Ireland, Haiti, and Mozambique. My research has been published in the British Journal of Political Science and is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Pearson Institute for Global Governance.

As a co-founder of Women in Political Science at Emory (WiPS-E), I am committed to building and empowering a diverse and inclusive research community that bridges academic and policy networks.

Before Emory, I earned my B.A. in Political Science from UNC Asheville, where I received the Big South Christenberry Award and was nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year. I am originally from Boulder, Colorado.