​I am an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Reno. 
 
My current research focuses on the political causes and consequences of criminal violence in Central America. I am working on a book project that uses comparative ethnography to examine the ways in which political context impacts drug-trafficking violence in Central America. 
 
More broadly, my teaching and research interests include the war on drugs, violence, illicit economies, immigration, and democratization throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

I won a 2022 Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Award to support my project that is tracking Violence Against Public Figures (VAPF) in Central America.