Note [Apr 2015]: this older, archived version is up while I transition to a new hosting platform with greater security and flexibility.
I was born in Houston, Texas and grew up near Augusta, Georgia, where I lived until graduating high school 2004.
From 2004 to 2007, I completed a BA in Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge University (Selwyn College), focusing on modern social theory and the foundations of international relations. I spent my summers in Austin and Washington at Strategic Forecasting, developing geopolitical analyses for subscribers and contract clients.
Having become involved in student representation as an undergraduate, I stayed on for two years from 2007 to 2009 as the cross-campus-elected Coordinator of the Cambridge University Student’s Union, managing an array of the charity’s operational and structural areas.
After falling in love with Austin during my first internship stint in 2005, I took the opportunity to move back. In 2010 I joined the campaigns of Judy Jennings and Rebecca Bell-Metereau for the Texas State Board of Education, an institution of huge national importance that had utterly failed in its responsibility to the public.
I am currently a Master of Public Affairs student at the LBJ School of the University of Texas at Austin. There I work as part of the State Finance and Online Transparency Policy Research Project, focusing on making school district budgetary data useful to interest groups and the public.
I am also employed by the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas as part of the Department of Defense-funded Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) project. I am conducting preliminary research into institutional capacity for complex emergencies in Africa, preparing the ground for a year-long team project that will include both academic study and extensive fieldwork.