Areas of Specialization
My research investigates the political conditions that promote the effective use of environmental and development aid. I am currently in the final stages of a book project that examines the ability of multilateral development banks to improve environmental outcomes in aid projects by responding to past performance. For this project, I created a comprehensive database of project-level environmental performance using multilateral development bank evaluation documents from the last two decades. I use this database to demonstrate that multilateral development banks can be made responsive to past performance when performance information enhances the oversight capacity of states and civil society groups.
I also have emerging research projects on a variety of topics, which include:
- Investigating the political conditions that allow the benefits of aid projects persist over time;
- Using remotely sensed landscape data to evaluate the effectiveness of aid projects;
- Modeling when aid projects can catalyze private sector investment in later periods;
Education
Ph.D., Duke University, 2011
M.S., University of Maryland, 2006
B.A., Wake Forest University, 2002