About
I am Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Global Studies at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, and Acting Director of the Center for the Study of Security and Drugs (CESED) in the Department of Economics.
In Spring 2024, I was a Visiting Scholar at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School, where I remain a Non-Resident Fellow. I am also an Invited Researcher with J-PAL’s Humanitarian Protection Initiative and the Displaced Livelihoods Initiative and a member of the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) network.
My CV can be found here.
My research focuses on crime, political violence, and drug policy in Latin America, particularly in Colombia, Central America, Mexico, and Brazil. To study these and other topics I use a combination of experimental and quasi-experimental methods. Prior to graduate school, I worked for three years on human rights and development in East and Southern Africa.
I have articles published or forthcoming in the American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, Nature Human Behaviour, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, and Conflict Management and Peace Science, among others. For more information on these articles and additional working papers, please see the Research page.
I received my Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University. I was a Predoctoral Fellow at Yale University’s Program on Order, Conflict, and Violence and a Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar at the United States Institute of Peace.
Born and raised in the great state of New Jersey, I enjoy short fiction, antique maps and records, and playing jazz piano.
