I received my PhD from the Political Science Department at Loyola University Chicago (August 2019) and my BA in International Studies and French at Butler University (May 2013). I am currently a full-time lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Public Policy at Merrimack College. Working at the intersection of both Comparative and American Politics, I analyze political behavior in established and transitioning democracies. Specifically, I investigate the political behavior of youth focusing on protest participation, voter participation, and civic engagement. I also possess a regional expertise in North Africa and the Middle East with a particular focus on elections, democratization, and foreign policy. My research has been published in the journal Politics and in the Journal of North African Studies, and I currently have research under review at Perspectives on Politics, Electoral Studies, and the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics. My current projects investigate the factors that impact youth voter participation in Tunisia's new democratic environment using data from an original survey I fielded during the summer of 2018 in Tunisia. My survey includes two experiments used to assess the impact of differential social norms and descriptive representation on voting behavior. I have also conducted over 100 qualitative interviews during my field research in Tunisia during the summers of 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018.