Currently I am an Assistant Professor of National Security Policy at Air University's Air Force Global College and the chair of the Department of Strategy and Security Studies.  Previously I was an instructor at Saint Louis University, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of California, San Diego, and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Nazarbayev University.  I obtained my Ph.D. in political science at the University of Alabama, concentrating on international relations and quantitative conflict processes.  My research primarily focuses on how states learn to use conflict from their interactions with other states.  Additionally, I am interested in how geography affects conflict and military expenditures.  I also have a forthcoming book from Edward Elgar on secret alliances.

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I focus on the personal, domestic, and international experiences that act as instructive devices from which states/leaders learn how to interact with other states and leaders.  This research covers state/leader behavior in arms races, alliances, rivalries, and Militarized Interstate Disputes. 

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I have taught courses in international relations, American politics, security studies, and research methods at Nazarbayev University, the University of Alabama, Saint Louis University, and Air University at the graduate, undergraduate, and certificate PME levels.