About Me

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Trinity College, Hartford. As of Fall 2022, I will be the new Director of the Legislative Internship Program at the college. I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego, in 2022.

I am interested in the intersection of race and representation in American politics. My research explores the factors that induce racial and ethnic minorities to participate in politics and how these groups exert influence through lobbying. My dissertation develops and tests a theory on how advocacy organizations explicitly representing racial minorities, which I refer to as racial minority interest groups (RMIG), work as mechanisms of representation for marginalized racial minority communities.

I was awarded a U.C. President’s Dissertation Fellowship and received the Barbara and Paul Saltman Excellent Teaching Award. I also received the Presidential Graduate Opportunities for Leadership Development (GOLD) Fellowship and was inducted into the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society.

Before graduate school, I graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History, with departmental honors, from U.C. San Diego. I am particularly passionate about mentoring historically underrepresented students in academia and have been a graduate advocate for U.C. San Diego’s Summer Training Academy for Research Success (STARS) program since 2018.

You can see the latest version of my C.V. HERE.