About

Welcome! I am a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of International Studies & Modern Languages at the University of St. Thomas in Houston (Fall 26, Spring 27). I hold a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I specialized in international policy and comparative politics. My research examines violence, state capacity, and peace policies in post-conflict societies, with regional expertise in Latin America. I employ rigorous quantitative causal inference methods, including difference-in-differences, comparative interrupted time series, and panel models, combined with qualitative process tracing from extensive fieldwork to evaluate how policies affect violence patterns and vulnerable populations.

With 17 years of professional experience in peacebuilding and conflict resolution alongside the United Nations, USAID, and the Colombian Ombudsman's Office, I participated directly in three peace negotiations. This included 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 doctoral research develops this dual-arena theory using Colombia as an empirical case, my broader research agenda examines post-conflict violence comparatively to generate 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.