Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Christopher Newport University and Director of the Reiff Center for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Global Order theme at Perry World House, the global policy hub of the University of Pennsylvania (2020-2021), and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University (2019-2020). I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2019.
My research concerns the role of institutions and law in the aftermath of violence and human rights abuses, particularly in newly transitioned democracies. My dissertation and book project examine compliance outcomes at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In particular, I focus on non-compliance resulting from capacity constraints and the domestic political incentives to avoid confronting the abuses of past military dictatorships. My dissertation received the Best Dissertation Award from the American Political Science Association Human Rights Section in 2020. Other substantive interests include the consequences of institutional design and development of human rights regimes. My methodological research interests include making inferences from observational data and modeling duration. My work has been published in the Review of International Organizations, Journal of Politics, Journal of Peace Research, and International Studies Quarterly.
I received my B.A. from the University of Virginia in 2013 as an Echols Scholar, where I majored in Classics and Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law.
I received my B.A. from the University of Virginia in 2013 as an Echols Scholar, where I majored in Classics and Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law.