about

Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University, I currently direct a multi-country National Science Foundation-funded project on disaster policy and politics in the Americas. I have also served as Academic Director of FIU’s Latin American and Caribbean Center, been a Fellow at the Extreme Events Institute, served as the Co-Director of Latin American Studies at Emory University, and have led undergraduate and graduate programs within and across disciplines.

my current research focuses on the politics of disaster and disaster policy, framed by my expertise in institutions and political trust in emerging democracies, especially in Latin America. I received my PhD from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2002, hold an MA from York University and a BA from McGill University, all in Political Science.