Welcome!

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

I study criminal violence, political order, and institutional development, using both contemporary and historical cases. My research explores how criminal violence shapes political institutions — and how states, in turn, exploit violence to consolidate power. I use tools from causal inference, deep learning (NLP and Computer Vision), and qualitative process tracing to analyze these dynamics across time and space.

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).

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:

• Why the British state collaborated with Loyalist militias during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, using declassified conversations among top officials.
• How mayoral reelection in Mexico affects criminal infiltration into elections.
• How natural resource shocks in Mozambique shape infrastructure investment and illicit economies.
  

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.