I received my Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University, where I majored in Government and History. I completed a senior thesis in each field, receiving summa cum laude in History and magna cum laude in Government. I also received a thesis prize in Government awarded annually for the best senior thesis in International Relations. My History thesis became the basis for journal articles appearing in Security Studies and The Journal of Strategic Studies.
Since September 2007, I have been a Ph.D. student in the Department of Politics at Princeton University. My research is on international environmental policy, with a focus on water resources and the global environment. My dissertation analyzes variation in the form of international environmental cooperation. I explore cooperation on several European water bodies (e.g., Baltic Sea, Danube River) and a diverse range of global environmental issues (e.g., climate change, ozone layer depletion, mercury emissions, biodiversity and ecosystems). My co-authored work with Robert O. Keohane, published in a special issue of International Affairs, develops the concept of institutional diffusion and applies it to the study of international environmental institutions. We are continuing that collaboration by studying focal points in international environmental cooperation.