I am currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the Government Department at Harvard University, a doctoral fellow in the Harvard Kennedy School's Multidisciplinary Program for Inequality and Social Policy and an affiliate at the Center for European Studies.
My specific research interests lie in pursuing an interdisciplinary analysis of the international, political, and economic dynamics affecting immigrant and minority integration, primarily with respect to flows from the Middle East/North Africa to the United States and Western Europe. I have worked on a number of projects examining the presence of Islam in Western Europe, the influence of remittances on integration, and immigrant inequality vis-à-vis comparative welfare states, local governance and urban rioting. My dissertation, entitled "When Cities Fight Back", will focus specifically on examining the causes and consequences of variation in patterns of local-level conflict and urban rioting across 4 European cities as they relate to minority incorporation practices. I plan to defend my dissertation in May of 2013
Originally, I hail from Los Angeles, California and did my undergraduate work in Political Science at UC Berkeley. In addition to my interest in politics, I enjoy spending most of my free time (and money) traveling and have already visited many countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. My next scheduled adventure will be Bhutan 2013. I currently commute between my work in Cambridge, MA and my husband and cat in Brooklyn, NY.