About

I am a senior researcher with the Program on Nonviolent Action at the United States Institute of Peace, where I conduct applied research on nonviolent action and its intersections with peacebuilding, countering violent extremism, and democratization.

I am the author of From Dissent to Democracy: The Promise and Peril of Civil Resistance Transitions, published by Oxford University Press.

I have previously worked as a post-doctoral research fellow in the department of Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, an external associate at the Peace Research Institution of Oslo (PRIO), and a research fellow at the Sie Cheou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy, where I supervised data collection for the Social Conflict Analysis Database (SCAD) and the Nonviolent and Violent Campaigns and Outcomes (NAVCO) 3.0 data project. 

I received my PhD in International Relations from the University of Denver in March 2018, my MA also from the University of Denver in 2014, and my BA in International Affairs from Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts in 2008. I was a 2012 recipient of the Korbel School’s Sie Fellowship and a 2016 recipient of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict’s PhD fellowship. Prior to entering graduate school I worked for study abroad programs in Egypt and India and helped found BIRDS International, an NGO addressing issues of rural poverty in South India.  I currently live in Washington DC and enjoy road biking, camping, and mountain climbing.