Hello!

I’m a PhD student at Stony Brook University in the Department of Political Science. I study political behavior in the context of decision making, using methods from political psychology and behavioral economics. I am particularly interested in the ability of citizens in democracies to effectively address collective risks. My work focuses on exploring the relationship between political preferences and economic preferences, specifically by testing the compatibility of standard political psychology self-report batteries and economic lottery choices. I am also interested in the evolving political discourse and policy action around climate change, technological innovation, disease outbreaks, terrorism, population growth, resource distribution, and similar collective risks.

My research agenda hopes to answer the following questions:

1. Do context-neutral economic preferences predict context-laden political preferences?
2. What role do political engagement and socially learning what goes with what reshape this relationship?
3. Do self-reported psychological measures reliably correlate with behavioral measures?
4. To what extent do non-political preferences and dispositions explain political behavior?

I did my undergraduate studies at the University of New Hampshire, where I majored in political science and international affairs with minors in philosophy, economics, and American history. All of these disciplines and more inform my work today and help me to explore the complexities of the political decision making.

I was also fortunate to have the opportunity to work as the Director of Communications for Leading Cities, where I learned the value of science communication for technological integration and the importance of providing public support for social innovation.

When I’m not doing research, I like to spend my time studying languages (currently Portuguese and Japanese), baking, and playing whatever instruments I can get my hands on. I’m also hoping to get into the NY marathon sometime in the near future.

In Progress:

• Equivalency Framing as a Partisan Identity Catalyst
• Goal Resolution and Political Reprioritization (with Reuben Kline)
• Minding the (Experimental) Gap: Comparing Prosociality and Comprehension with Real and Hypothetical Incentives in the Lab and Online (with Reuben Kline, Alexa Bankert, and Ignacio Urbina)
• Does Social Signaling in a Public Goods Game Encourage Pareto Optimality or Detrimental Freeriding? (with Reuben Kline, Ignacio Urbina, William Brown, and Josh McDonnell)
• The Effects of Social Learning on Success in a Collective Risk Social Dilemma
• Putting Political Behavior in Its Proper Place

Thanks for stopping by! Email me if you’d like to collaborate.