I am a PhD Candidate and Presidential Fellow in the Department of Sociology at The Ohio State University, with affiliations at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies and the Translational Data Analytics Institute. My research examines contentious politics and political culture, broadly construed, in the United States and internationally. I develop and apply computational and mixed-methods approaches that link macro-level patterns to the meso- and micro-level processes that produce them.

Most of my research examines manifestations of social division; that is, extremism, exclusion, and targeted violence. In my dissertation, I turn to the underlying concept and causes of division itself, dissecting what is arguably the most consequential distinction in social and political life: the symbolic boundary between "us" and "them." Building on prior scholarship from across the social sciences, I use computational and survey-based techniques to unpack how division is structured, reproduced, and—at times—contested. 

My research has appeared or is forthcoming in journals across the social sciences, including Social Problems, Criminology, Social Science & Medicine, Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Legislative Studies, Politics, Groups & Identities, and Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism & Political Aggression. I also write for public audiences, with contributions to the Global Network on Extremism and Technology’s Insight Series and the European Consortium for Political Research’s The Loop, among others. 

For examples of ongoing projects, data, and replication code, please see my Projects page and GitHub. Alternatively, check out some of my recent appearances in broadcast and other media, alongside coverage of my work. I also make music, some of which you can find here, alongside a music video.