ABOUT: I am a political scientist and legal scholar conducting empirical research on legal systems during and after conflict with a regional focus on the Middle East. My research and teaching interests are in the areas of criminal law and procedure, international law, human rights, and transitional justice. Currently, I am the National Security Law Fellow at the Georgetown University Law Center.
I hold a J.D. from Yale Law School and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University, where my dissertation examined civilian agency during rebel governance and its post-conflict consequences in the case of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. I have conducted fieldwork in Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, and Oman using qualitative and quantitative research methods including large-scale household surveys, semi-structured interviews, and event data based on newspapers and social media posts. My current research aims to contribute to the development of evidence-based strategies for strengthening rule of law and state legitimacy after war. I have served as the lead researcher on Iraq and Syria for United Nations University, the research wing of the UN system, for projects on the recruitment of children by armed groups and prospects for transitional justice after the Islamic State. I am currently leading a research partnership between the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Yale Law School's Center for Global Legal Challenges to assess whether community policing methods can improve relations between civilians and state security forces in Iraq. I am also working with the United Nations Development Programme’s Iraq mission to study the prospects for peaceful return and reintegration of families perceived as affiliated with the Islamic State.
Before entering academia, I was a Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Middle East Program), a Critical Language Scholar in Jordan, and a Fulbright Fellow in Oman. I hold a B.A. in Political Science and Arabic from Swarthmore College.
