I study the behavioral and psychological foundations of democratic institutions, with a focus on how social learning, emotions, motivations, and social norms shape political behavior and democratic life. My work integrates large-scale computational analysis, experiments, and formal models to examine support for democracy, equality, and public goods.

A central focus of my research is understanding when institutional designs, such as regulations, policies, and information environments, align with human cognition and social dynamics, and when they instead generate resistance or unintended consequences. Ultimately, my goal is to inform the design of institutions that are both effective and consistent with democratic values. I am also interested in how human interaction with AI may affect democracy.

Methodologically, I use machine learning/natural language processing, advanced statistical models, experiments, and formal modeling to study human behavior and public opinion. My work applies NLP methods, including fine-tuning pre-trained language models, to analyze large-scale unstructured text from sources such as social media and political speech. These approaches allow me to measure beliefs, emotions, and narratives at scale. I also use statistical models for causal and descriptive inference, formal and agent-based models to develop and test theoretical predictions, and survey experiments and incentivized economic games to identify causal mechanisms in controlled settings. Together, these methods allow me to investigate political behavior across varied contexts and data sources. You can find my publications and projects in the Research tab.

My work has been published in PNAS, the Journal of Environmental Psychology, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, and the Journal of Public Health Policy. My research has also been supported by an APSA Summer Centennial Center Research Grant.

I teach Computational Text Analysis for Social Sciences, which covers machine learning and natural language processing using both R and Python. You can find the course materials on my Teaching page.

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and the Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics . I received my Ph.D.  in Political Science at Stony Brook University in 2023.