Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University. I study political institutions, focusing on how the structure of the U.S. Congress and American federalism shape public policy.
A central interest of my work is understanding how politics affects the distribution of federal funding and the design of government assistance programs. Some of this research appears in my book, Politics by Formula: How Congressional Policymaking Creates Disparities, published by the University of Chicago Press. My other research is published in the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and Science.
I received a Joint Ph.D. in Politics and Social Policy from Princeton University in 2021 and a B.A. in Political Science from Carleton College in 2014. Prior to beginning my graduate studies, I worked as a research assistant on K-12 education policy at the Congressional Research Service.