About Me

Hello! I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Iowa. I received my M.A. in Political Science (2023) and my B.S. in Political Science (2022) from the University of Iowa.

My primary research agenda focuses on how environmental factors, such as natural disasters, impact state and rebel capacity for war, changing their behavior and tactics during conflict. More broadly, I am interested in how subnational qualities (e.g., proximity, inequality, resource access, exposure to natural disasters) shape attitudes and behavior, as well as how structural or environmental changes within a conflict change behavior towards other combatants and civilians.

In my dissertation, I examine how natural disasters alter decision-making over the timing, location, and target of combatants’ attacks within a given conflict, and the larger implications for conflict diffusion and conflict processes. I use ACLED events to determine the initiator for conflict events and create a key to link them to UCDP conflict actors to explore this question.

Other projects cover topics such as civil wars, natural disasters, natural resources and conflict, rebel decision-making and behavior, and foreign aid. I use quantitative analysis of large-scale observational data in conjunction with spatial analysis and geoinformatics to understand how decision-making varies over time and space within conflict zones.