I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with affiliations in Political Science and Latin American and Iberian Studies. My research interests include civil wars, political violence and conflict resolution, protests and repression, authoritarianism and democratization, and statebuilding, with regional interests in the politics of Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. I also have research and teaching interests in qualitative and mixed methods research methodology. In my research, I use interviews, archival research, comparative historical analysis, surveys and survey experiments, and cross-national statistical analysis.

My work has been published or is forthcoming in journals including Comparative Politics, the Journal of Democracy, the Journal of Politics, and Security Studies, as well as in multiple edited volumes. I have received research and writing support from funders including the National Science Foundation, Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the Hellman Fellows Fund.

My book project, “When Rebels Win: Ideology, Statebuilding, and Power after Rebel Victory in Civil Wars,” examines how rebel organizational goals and institutional choices affect state building and public service provision efforts following rebels’ successful capture of internationally-recognized states. I have conducted research for this project in Liberia, Nicaragua, and Uganda.

I also endeavor to make my work accessible to a broader audience, to engage with public debates, and to speak and act against injustice and for human rights. I have written pieces for outlets including Foreign Policy, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Latinoamérica 21, The Conversation, Lawfare, Political Violence @ a Glance, and Duck of Minerva, and have been interviewed by outlets including NBC News, the BBC, France 24, Al Jazeera, and Radio-Canada. Additionally, I assist with the cases of Nicaraguan asylum seekers.

I was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies. I received my PhD in Government at Harvard University, during which I earned a Certificate in Latin American Studies. For more information, see my CV and bio.