Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice at the University of South Alabama. I earned my PhD in political science from the University of Iowa. 

I study the political causes and consequences of poverty in the United States, with particular attention to how the design of social and health policy shapes the material and political lives of economically marginalized people.

My research has been published in Policy Studies Journal, Political Research Quarterly, JAMA Health Forum, Electoral Studies, Social Science Quarterly, Representation, and Political Psychology among others, and has been supported by a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant from the American Political Science Association and the National Science Foundation.