Political Science Professor | Academic Research, Thesis/Dissertation, and Survey and Experimental Design Consultation

I am an Associate Professor in the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona. There, I direct the Psychology of Inequality and Politics (PIP) Lab, and am an affiliate of the Arizona Policy Lab. I received my PhD in Political Science from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln in 2017 and my Bachelor's in Psychology from the University of Delaware in 2011.

My areas of expertise include: American politics, political psychology, political neuroscience (including use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging), public opinion, polarization, democratic norms, race and politics, wealth inequality, statistics, survey methodology, implicit attitudes, and experimental design.

I study political psychology with a particular focus on public attitudes regarding democracy and polarization, race and racism, wealth inequality, partisan/ideological conflict, and political tolerance. I mainly use observational survey data and a variety of experimental methods in my work. I am particularly interested in political cognition and nonconscious processes, and so often use indirect measures (e.g., implicit associations, cognitive and behavioral tasks) to gauge various levels of political thinking. I also use Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in some work (previously funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF)) to investigate the neural processes underlying political cognition related to partisan as well as race-related evaluations.

My work has been published in political science journals such as Political Communication and Political Research Quarterly as well as psychology journals such as Behavioural Brain Research, Personality and Individual Differences, and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: B. I was awarded the Best Dissertation Award from the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP) in 2018 for my work on the neural/psychological mechanisms of support for government assistance, and the Best Paper in American Politics award from the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) in 2021 for co-authored work on political intolerance. My current book project with Jeff Spinner-Halev at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln investigates how Americans grapple with support for democratic norms and ideals of political equality while experiencing hierarchy and inequality in their everyday lives.

Work Terms

I offer straightforward and clear communication of expectations with set deadlines and frequent communication to ensure expectations are being met and also that you are benefitting from my expertise.