Biography

I work with voter registration and turnout records to bring empirical rigor to longstanding theoretical questions in American Politics. My dissertation casts doubt on resource theories of political participation that argue individuals’ propensity to vote increases when they earn and have more money. Other areas of work include studying occupation of city councilmembers (in Urban Affairs Review) and studying public health messaging during the pandemic (in PNAS Nexus). I am originally from Evanston, IL. Before my PhD at UCLA I worked for a year at wikiHow.com after finishing undergrad at Brown.

Research Interests

My research examines the relationship between economic conditions, political behavior, and local governance in the United States. I combine innovative data collection methods with rigorous quantitative analysis to address fundamental questions in American politics. Examples include studying the turnout effects of poor health and income changes using original observational datasets.

Graduate Advisors

• Lynn Vavreck
• Dan Thompson
• Jeff Lewis
• Julia Payson