Welcome!

I received my PhD from the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara along with a Doctoral Emphasis in Global Studies. I am also a Gordon Tullock Fellow at the Mercatus Center and a Boren Fellow. I was previously a Carl Menger Fellow and an Adam Smith Fellow at the Mercatus Center, as well as a Graduate Fellow at the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies.

Several years of traveling and working around the world have motivated my interest in global affairs and international political economy. While my prior research has examined issues pertaining to the international system broadly-speaking, my recent work has concentrated on maritime security in the Global South, including regional expertise on China and Africa.

My dissertation is titled “Chinese Economic Engagement in Africa and West African Maritime Ports.” It employs a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods, involving field work in Ghana as well as Benin, Togo, and Côte d’Ivoire. My work has been cited in reports from The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as well as The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Other recurring topics in my research include: international sanctions, maritime security, foreign investment, trade, currency competition, infrastructure, development, inequality, globalization, and varieties of market economies.

Among other outlets, my work has been featured in The Diplomat; E-International Relations; Diplomatic Courier; International Politics; The African Review; The Global Policy Journal; The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Global Studies; International Politics; Canadian Foreign Policy Journal; Journal of Asian and African Studies; and The International Review of Economics.