About

I am Provost Associate Professor in the Department of Government at American University’s School of Public Affairs, where I also serve as Graduate Program Director. My research lies at the intersection of comparative politics and the political economy of development, with a focus on understanding and mitigating intergroup conflict, prejudice, and polarization. Much of my recent research investigates when intergroup contact and other interventions cause public versus private attitudes and behaviors to diverge. I also examine how different sources of revenue—such as taxation, natural resources, and foreign aid—shape political behavior, governance, and development.

Methodologically, I use experiments and other tools for causal inference, often collecting original survey and behavioral data. I have conducted field research in Indonesia, Colombia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, and the United States. 

I am a Co-Director of the Democratic Erosion Consortium (DEC), a global network of researchers, students, policymakers, and practitioners working to understand and counter democratic erosion through evidence-based approaches. I am also a member of the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) network and a co-convener of the Northeast Workshop in Empirical Political Science (NEWEPS).

Previously, I was an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh; a fellow at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University; and a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC. I earned my Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.