About

I am an assistant professor of economics at the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) and analyst at USAFA’s Office of Labor and Economic Analysis.

My research focuses on ways to improve criminal justice and education policy, leveraging quasi-experimental, experimental, and structural modeling methods. My work has recently been published in Nature, the Journal of Human Capital, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and the Journal of Quantitative Criminology.

My criminal justice research portfolio includes research on the effects of parole supervision (e.g., early release, parole conditions, and officer effects), prison programing (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy and violence prevention programs), policing (e.g., gang takedowns, community policing, focused deterrence, and officer arrest decisions), and crime prevention through environmental design (e.g., streetlighting and art initiatives). My education research portfolio includes research on the effects of high school curricula (e.g., career and technical education and general education) and high school tutoring programs (e.g., two-on-one peer tutoring and education technology platforms).

Prior to this position, I worked as a postdoctoral scholar with Penn State’s Criminal Justice Research Center conducting research with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Prior to that, I worked as a research director at the University of Chicago's Crime & Education Lab New York managing a combination of policy evaluations and technical assistance projects for several New York City government agencies. I hold a PhD in economics from the University of Virginia and a BS in economics & political science from the University of Michigan.