I am Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Political Science at the University of Florida.
I study international relations, with substantive research interests in the intersection of race and racism in international politics, global inequality, migration policy, forced displacement, and international order. I have published articles on several topics, including inequality in international migration, visa waivers, discrimination in government bureaucracies, border walls, and asymmetric hypotheses, in the American Journal of Political Science, Political Analysis, International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Peace Research, among others.
My first book (order here!), Undesirable Immigrants: Why Racism Persists in International Migration was published by Princeton University Press in its International History and Politics series in August 2022. The book received a 2023 Best Book Award from the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics section of the American Political Science Association. It was recently profiled in Mother Jones. I also talked about it on the New Books in Political Science podcast.
I am currently completing a second book manuscript, Hierarchies of Worth: Race and the Politics of Costly State Action. The book develops a general theory of international politics to explain why some crises generate extraordinary state action while others produce neglect, exclusion, or procedural restraint. It shows how economic scarcity, foreign-policy incentives, and racialized judgments of moral worth interact to shape the political feasibility of costly action. The project extends debates on race and the liberal international order by showing how hierarchies of worth structure who receives protection, assistance, and solidarity in moments of crisis.
A current version of my C.V. (May 2026) can be downloaded here.
At UF, I teach courses on international relations theory, research methods, globalization, and political networks. My courses have been awarded an “Affordable UF” badge: “The high cost of instructional materials can be a burden for some UF students. By selecting materials costing less than $20 per credit hour, you made it possible for all of your students to access the resources they needed to be successful in your course.”
I received a Ph.D. from the Ohio State University, an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics in International Relations (Research), and a B.A. from the Johns Hopkins University in International Studies and Political Science. I am a proud native of Des Moines, Iowa: one of the coolest cities in the world.
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