I am a political scientist and postdoctoral research fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, where I utilize computational and quantitative techniques to study topics at the intersection of international conflict, cooperation, and cutting-edge technology. From traditional security issues to artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, my research focuses on the transformative power that international law and organization can have on solving complex global and regional security problems

My current project, Organizing Peace, analyzes the cumulative structural effects of the 79,287 international treaties signed across the globe between 1648 and 2022. This project leverages machine-learning to classify each of these treaties by topic, signatories, and a variety of other metrics in order to map and measure the structure of the international legal system and its effects on states’ foreign policy.

Prior to starting my fellowship at Brown, I completed my Ph.D. in Political Science at Northeastern University and taught undergraduate courses in International Relations, Comparative Politics, and Research Methods. My teaching in these areas was recognized with the college-wide Outstanding Teaching Award and my dissertation project received the university-wide Outstanding Research Award in the Humanics, Data, and Technology category.

My earlier research on cybersecurity, Breaking Botnets: A Quantitative Analysis of Individual, Technical, Isolationist, and Multilateral Approaches to Cybersecurity, co-authored with Rob Knake, the former National Security Council Director for Cybersecurity Policy, was published in the Journal of Cybersecurity. For this project, I built a new ten million datapoint dataset, focused on malware and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, to test the efficacy of a wide variety of cybersecurity strategies employed by 191 countries around the world. Among other key findings, these results demonstrated that countries which favor digital isolation and restrictions on internet freedom (e.g. China, Russia) are actually significantly less secure than those who embrace digital freedom and multilateral approaches to cybersecurity.

My first article, published with Denise Garcia in Global Policy, The AI Arms Race: Trends and World Leaders in Autonomous Weapons Development outlines the current state of the global AI arms race and argues that greater oversight of increased autonomy in warfare is critically needed. This deadly technology is likely to proliferate rapidly, enhance terrorist tactics, empower authoritarian rulers, undermine democratic peace, and is vulnerable to bias, hacking, and malfunction.

My Background:

I completed my undergraduate study at Northeastern University, where my curiosity about international security and justice led me to concurrently earn a B.S. in Criminal Justice and a B.A. in International Affairs. In 2010, I spent a semester volunteering at an orphanage in Argentina and planting old-growth trees in the Peruvian Amazon.

I joined the US Army Infantry in 2012. After Basic Officer Leader Course, airborne paratrooper training, and mechanized infantry school, I was sent to my first assignment at Camp Casey, Republic of Korea, where I had the honor of leading a mechanized infantry platoon. Stationed just south of the Demilitarized Zone, we served as part of a quick reaction force and took part in several international joint military live-fire exercises.

For my next assignment, I was selected to serve as the Executive Officer to the United Nations Command Honor Guard. Stationed in Seoul, I had the privilege of leading a multinational force to provide security, logistics, and diplomatic ceremony support for distinguished US and foreign dignitaries, including President Barack Obama, Ambassador Kim Sung, and South Korean President Park Geun-hye. After achieving the rank of Captain, I left the Army and returned to Northeastern to pursue a Ph.D. in Political Science.

While no longer in the armed forces, I have continued my public service as a Representative for Town Meeting and Capital Budget Committee member in Walpole, MA. In these roles, I have co-sponsored and fought for two pieces of legislation that have been passed into law. The first was a resolution to get our town to 100% renewable energy by 2050. The second was a pair of articles to update our elected official titles making them gender-neutral to encourage a more inclusive and diverse group of local leaders.