Resume

• 2009

  Ph.D.

  Political Science

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  M.A.

  Political Science

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• 1995

  BA

  Political Science

  Campus Times

  Student Senate

  STING

• 1994

  National Honor Society

  Drama Club

  Glens Falls High School

• Looking at rumors as viruses

  and more studies from scholars who study truth and politics - American Press Institute

  To help understand the spread of rumors

  look at them as if they're viruses. Rumors \"are nothing more than long strands of information seeking to reproduce to ensure survival

  \" say the authors of a study on the spread of misinformation. \"To stretch the metaphor further

  a rumor seeks to survive by infecting as many people ...

  Looking at rumors as viruses

  and more studies from scholars who study truth and politics

  American Corporate Partners (ACP)

  Mentor

  Review resumes and offer career and image advice to female veterans and women married to/widowed by servicemen.

  Business and Professional Women's Foundation

  Research

  Public Speaking

  Communications Strategy

  Analysis

  Policy Analysis

  Political Science

  Statistics

  Crisis Communications

  International Relations

  Statistical Data Analysis

  R

  Stata

  Econometrics

  Strategic Communications

  Quantitative Research

  Crisis Management

  Political Communication

  Politics

  Research Design

  Risk

  Are Maduro's Actions Empowering Other Would-Be Dictators in Latin America?

  Are Maduro's Actions Empowering Other Would-Be Dictators in Latin America?

  Why does the media cover stories in some countries... but not in others?

  Translation: The Constitution should come from the people\nOp-ed in political magazine about the difference between constitutions that retain rights for the populace and give limited rights to the government versus those that retains rights for the government and give limited rights to the populace (Spanish)

  La Constitución debe ser del Pueblo

  Biweekly newspaper column on how students might develop leadership (Spanish)

  Liderazgo

  Hopscotch

  or Five Tips for Working in Bolivia

  Roles & Perils of Being a Watchdog: the press and government

  Cronkhite

  Self-employed

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  Self

  U.S. Department of State

  The United States Army War College

  US Coast Guard Academy

  Harrisburg

  Pennsylvania Area

  •\tConsulted with the Office of Educational Methodology to formulate statistically sound procedures for drawing inferences from survey of students to measure curriculum effectiveness\n•\tBuilding a dataset on populism and news media by conducting archival research to collect conflicting data from cross-national quantitative datasets and in-depth country studies\n•\tDesigned agent-based model to simulate the transmission of misinformation

  conducted theoretical research to formulate model specifications. \n•\tProvide data consulting to civil servants and military officials on best practices for utilizing unclassified academic datasets

  Post-doctoral Researcher

  The United States Army War College

  Santa Cruz

  Bolivia; Lima

  Peru; and Sao Paulo

  Brazil

  • Working with multiple international clients

  from large corporations to individual politicians

  identified and authored analyses on business opportunities and potential risks in South America.\n•\tConsulted with polling firms that deployed Gallup polls in Bolivia

  Peru

  and Chile to develop best translation and localization practices for both administration and also reporting of surveys\n•\tDeveloped targeted communications strategies

  authored profiles of political leaders

  and wrote talking points for negotiations \n•\tDeveloped client-specific multilingual political issues archive\n•\tTrained client staff on using open-source media to detect trends and patterns of emergent risks\n• Individually coached and offered seminars on how to improve public speaking and how employees might better present themselves as leaders.

  International Strategic Communications & Risk Consultant

  Self-employed

  Greater Chicago Area

  •\tDissertation examined the linkage between news consumption and the propensity to protest in Latin America using survey data from the World Values Survey and the AmericasBarometer with logistic regression and generalized ordered logistic regression models in Stata. Designed and deployed media consumption questions in 2014 Bolivian electoral poll\n•\tUsed logistic regression in R to assess likelihood that citizens in compulsory voting societies may turn in a blank protest vote (voto blanco). Assessed methodological ability to infer whether a blank vote was due to protest or due to less systematic factors

  Researcher and Writer

  Self

  Urbana-Champaign

  Illinois Area

  • Wrote syllabus & independently taught 60 students for one semester of Politics & the Media (PS 312).\n• Independently taught 60 students for two semesters of Public Speaking (CMN 101).\n• Assisted in teaching a 300-person lecture course on Introduction to Political Science (PS 100).\n• Constructed dataset to assess corruption in World Bank projects. Developed codebook by incorporating social science methodology and domain knowledge

  conducted archival research

  and trained research assistants in methodology \n• Quantitative textual analysis

  both human and computer-assisted

  in multiple languages. \n• Full fellowship with stipend.

  Graduate Teaching & Research Assistant

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  Economic/Commercial Officer\nEmbassy La Paz

  Bolivia 2003 – 2005\nThere were five presidents in Bolivia from 2001 to 2006. La Paz was paralyzed by protests and road blockades from 2002 to 2004

  including an October 2003 siege that forced the then-president into exile.\n• Directed efforts to protect US firms working in country in conjunction with the Embassy security office

  paying special attention to physical security and crisis management.\n• Counseled US-owned businesses on political

  social and economic issues

  and assisted companies involved in investment disputes.\n• Wrote and edited market research reports for government and private sector audiences

  including the annual Country Commercial Guide.\n• During the October 2003 siege

  organized emergency services for hundreds of stranded American citizens and businesses and helped stave off a run on the banking system.\n• Supervised two senior analysts

  as well as a secretary and numerous interns.\n\nImmigrant Visa Chief/Fraud Prevention Manager\nUS Consulate General in Chennai (Madras)

  India \n2000 – 2002\nBusinesses in South India invented and perfected software outsourcing. The Consulate processed over 200

  000 visas in 2001

  including more H1-B visas than any office in the world.\n• Managed a 500 percent increase in applications for work-based residency visas

  including successful lobbying to finance increased staffing and implementation of internet-based customer service.\n• Investigated and gathered evidence against persons that had violated US and Indian laws.\n•\tDeveloped training manual and gave workshops to teach employees to detect visa fraud more effectively at the US Consulate in India. Procedures became the basis for later quantitative data collection\n• Supervised up to 20 people at any time and managed all related budget and confidentiality issues.

  U.S. Department of State

  US Coast Guard Academy

  New London/Norwich

  Connecticut Area

  • Taught social science methodology to sophomores with emphasis on applied statistical methods and research design\n• Taught future military officers how to critically consume information in the age of fake news & cyberwarfare.

  Lecturer

  International Studies Association

  Latin American Studies Association

  American Political Science Association

  Spanish

  English

  Portuguese

  Meritorious Honor Award

  U.S. Department of State

  Seymour Sudman Dissertation Award (Honorable Mention)

  Survey Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois

  William A. Schroeder and Paul W. Schroeder Fellowship

  Cline Center for Democracy

  University of Illinois