About Me

I am Provost Associate Professor in the Department of Foreign Policy and Global Security, School of International Service (SIS) and the Director of the Research on International Policy Implementation Lab (RIPIL) at American University. My research examines research-to-policy translation as well as interactions between international and domestic actors in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, addressing debates in the statebuilding, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, international aid, global governance, and foreign policy literatures. I use mixed-method research designs and have conducted extensive fieldwork in conflict-affected countries, including Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Nepal, South Sudan, and Sudan. My research has been supported by awards from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Humanity United, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Swiss Network for International Studies, the United States Institute of Peace, the US National Science Foundation, the Swedish and Dutch governments, and the United Nations.

My first book, Global Governance and Local Peace: Accountability and Performance in International Peacebuilding (Cambridge University Press, 2018), argues that because global governance actors are accountable to external stakeholders, seemingly “bad behavior” by country-based staff is necessary for local peacebuilding performance. It was shortlisted for the 2020 Conflict Research Society Book of the Year Prize and featured as one of the 2018 top picks for engaged scholarship by Political Violence @ a Glance. I am finishing a co-authored second book, Aid in Conflict, that explains how and why aid donors engage differently with war-torn countries. My work has been published or is forthcoming with the American Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, Columbia University Press, Foreign Affairs, International Peacekeeping, International Studies Review, Journal of Global Security Studies, Journal of Politics, Oxford University Press, Political Research Quarterly, and Review of International Organizations, among others.

Prior to graduate school, I worked for the United Nations, International Crisis Group, and the Council on Foreign Relations. I received my PhD from Tufts University and was a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies and The Graduate Institute in Geneva. My PhD research was supported by a USIP Peace Scholar Fellowship and a Tufts Provost Fellowship. In 2018, I received the SIS Scholar-Teacher of the Year Award and, in 2021, the Outstanding Contribution to Fostering Collaborative Scholarship award. In 2023 I was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and, in 2024, was awarded the Provost Associate Professor title by American University’s Provost.

My scholarship has had an impact on the policies of the United Nations, international non-governmental organizations, private foundations, and governments.