I am an Assistant Professor in the Russia Maritime Studies Institute at the United States Naval War College. Previously, I was an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at the United States Naval Academy. I received my Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in May 2017 and was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies during the 2017-2018 academic year.

I research energy politics, Russian foreign policy, US-Russia relations, nuclear geopolitics, populism and European Foreign Policy. My work has appeared in  Newsweek, Lawfare, the Journal of International Affairs, The Christian Science Monitor, Duck of Minerva, The London School of Economics United States Politics Blog, the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs and others. I also blog at Commenting Together.  

My book project, Poisoned By Gas, explains variation in energy security policy across Europe. Based on interviews, archival work and statistical evidence, I show why some states fail to reduce energy dependence on a main supplier state even when they have the opportunity to do so. Using an original dataset of bi-lateral natural gas contracts, I create a new index of energy dependence that facilitates the comparison of energy security both within case across time and cross-nationally. Using new data, I offer an novel conception of measuring and evaluating energy security on a dominant supplier.

I have conducted fieldwork in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania and Poland, interviewing government officials, corporate actors, policymakers and local actors. I have also held research appointments at the European Council on Foreign Relations and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW).