I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Vanderbilt University. Prior to joining Vanderbilt, I held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Free University of Berlin as well as a Research Fellowship at the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at the University of Washington in 2014.

My research concerns political institutions, representation, and public policy, with a focus on gender and politics and a regional concentration in sub-Saharan Africa. Using a variety of cases and methodological approaches, my current work examines how quotas for women in politics affect the representative process. This agenda includes measuring the effects of electoral gender quotas across a range of outcomes, including public attitudes and behavior towards women representatives, MP plenary behavior, and policy outcomes. 

My work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Journal of Politics, Politics & Gender, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, and International Organization.