I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science and the Thomas J. Pearsall Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My research sits at the intersection of political economy and representation, with a focus on subnational governments in the United States.
I write about the political economy of housing, showing the role of racial backlash in the implementation of exclusionary zoning policies and how public commenting influences approvals of new housing. Ongoing projects examine how governments inform residents about new development proposals and why public comments are influential.
I also study the development of political institutions in American cities, such as the professionalized civil service and the city manager and commission systems. I am currently working on a project on how neighborhoods seek representation.
My work has been recognized with the Susan Clarke Young Scholar Award by the APSA Urban Politics Section and the Emerging Scholar Award from the APSA American Political Economy Section. Before UNC, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University and received my PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.