My dissertation asks why oil-rich states are so violent and explores the politics of oil revenue distribution and the role of groups in oil-rich regions. It is based on 12 months of fieldwork in Nigeria, and is supported by an NSF Dissertation Improvement Grant and by the International Growth Centre.

I also study why civilians support armed groups through survey research in Afghanistan, Mexico, Nigeria, and Pakistan, and I’ve developed new methods for sensitive survey questions.

My work appears in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science and Political Analysis, and won the 2013 Pi Sigma Alpha Award for best paper at MPSA.