Welcome!

I am a doctoral candidate with the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I am also a Carl Menger Fellow at the Mercatus Center and a Boren Fellow. I was previously an Adam Smith Fellow at the Mercatus Center as well as a Graduate Fellow at the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies. I hold an MA in Political Science from UCSB and a BA in International Studies and French from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Several years of traveling and working around the world have motivated my research interests in international relations, international political economy, foreign policy, and economic development. While my prior research has examined issues pertaining to the international system broadly-speaking, my recent work has concentrated on the Global South, including regional expertise on China and Africa. My dissertation is titled “South-South Relations: Chinese Economic Engagement in West Africa and its Maritime Ports.” It employs a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods, involving field work in Ghana, Benin, and Togo.

Some of the questions I address in my work include: What strategies can low-income countries pursue to foster growth and development? What is the role of foreign investment in supporting sustainable development? What is the relationship between multinational or transnational corporations and local communities? What interventions are most effective at reducing poverty and improving quality of life?

My work has been featured in The Diplomat, E-International Relations, Diplomatic Courier, The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development, The Global Policy Journal, The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, and The International Review of Economics.