Welcome!

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

I study how states govern in fragmented and contested settings by outsourcing coercive power to actors such as criminal organizations, pro-government militias, and multinational corporations. These groups that do not seek to overthrow the state but nonetheless profoundly shape its development. Drawing on archival research, fieldwork, causal inference, and large-scale text analysis, I examine these dynamics across diverse contexts including Mexico, Mozambique, Northern Ireland, Haiti, and Bengal.

My dissertation investigates how authorities leverage criminal violence as a tool of coercion to manipulate elite coalitions and sustain extractive governance, drawing on a novel collection of internal documents from the English East India Company (1769–1773). I have received funding for this through the National Science Foundation and the American Political Science Association (DDRIG).

Across my projects, I employ a multi-method empirical approach that includes:

• Deep learning techniques (computer vision and natural language processing).
• Design-based causal inference.
• Archival analysis and qualitative process tracing.
  

Some other current projects include:

• How the introduction of mayoral reelection in Mexico affects criminal infiltration into elections.
• Why the British state collaborated with Loyalist militias during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, using declassified conversations among top officials.
• How natural resource shocks in Mozambique shape infrastructure investment and illicit economies.
• How the anticipation of international military intervention shapes gang violence and civilian mobility in Haiti.
  

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 reaches across both academic and policy networks.

Before Emory, I earned my B.A. in Political Science from UNC Asheville in 2020, where I received the Big South Christenberry Award and was nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year. I’m originally from Boulder, Colorado.