Welcome! I am a PhD Candidate in political science at the University of Iowa. I study public policy, poverty, and political behavior in the United States, with an emphasis on social policy and welfare. My research examines how public policies affect individuals experiencing socioeconomic hardships and shape their political behaviors and attitudes. I am interested in uncovering the systemic barriers, particularly those related to policy design and implementation, that perpetuate political inequality. Additionally, I explore the long-term political consequences of social policies by focusing on how they impact civic engagement and political attitudes over time. 

In my dissertation, I bridge scholarship on policy feedback and political socialization to better understand the long-term effects of government policies on individuals and their political behaviors and attitudes. Focusing on adolescence, I study how people's experiences with government policy programs, such as TANF and SNAP, during youth impact their political orientations and political behaviors in adulthood. This research is supported by a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) through the American Political Science Association/National Science Foundation.

My research has been published or is forthcoming in Political Research Quarterly, Social Science Quarterly, Electoral Studies, and the Journal of Political Institutions and Economy.