About Me

Welcome! I am a Ph.D. candidate in Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in comparative politics and international policy. My research examines political violence, state capacity, and peace processes in post-conflict societies, with regional expertise in Latin America. I employ rigorous quantitative causal inference methods—difference-in-differences (with staggered treatment designs), comparative interrupted time series analysis, and panel methods—combined with qualitative process tracing from extensive fieldwork to evaluate how policies affect violence patterns and vulnerable populations.

With 17 years of experience working on peacebuilding and conflict resolution with the United Nations, USAID, and the Colombian Ombudsman's Office, I participated directly in three peace negotiations, including supporting the victims and transitional justice chapter of Colombia's 2016 FARC peace accord. This practitioner experience grounds my research on a broader theoretical puzzle: why do peace agreements successfully reduce political violence in some contexts while criminal violence surges in others, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities? While my dissertation develops this theory using Colombia as an empirical case, my research agenda examines post-conflict violence comparatively across Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia to develop generalizable insights about when policies protect versus endanger vulnerable populations.

My work has been recognized with a Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the International Studies Association and a Saperstein Fellowship from Wayne State University. My work has been published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, and Conflict, Security & Development.