She completed her undergraduate studies at Barnard College, spending a semester abroad in 1990 at Leningrad State University in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. After graduating from Barnard, she returned to Leningrad State University to study Soviet constitutional law from 1991-1992, witnessing the USSR’s dissolution. From 1992-1995, she worked for the New York City Commission for the United Nations, managing an initiative that raised millions of dollars to retain UNICEF'sheadquarters in the city. In 1995 and 2001, respectively, she obtained her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Her doctoral dissertation, "Learning to Keep the Peace? UN Multidimensional Peacekeeping in Civil Wars", advised by Ernst B. Haas, focused on the reasons behind the success and failure of UN peacekeeping operations. From 2002-2004, she was an Assistant Professor of Government at Wesleyan University. Since 2003, she has worked at Georgetown University as Visiting Assistant Professor, Founding Director of the Master’s Program in Conflict Resolution, as Assistant Professor of Government, and as Associate Professor. She has also held fellowships at Stanford, Harvard, the University of Maryland, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. At Georgetown, she serves as the International Relations Field Chair for the Department of Government. Her research and teaching focuses is in the fields of international relations, comparative politics, and conflict resolution. She has published articles about peacekeeping, civil war termination, and American foreign policy. Her 2008 book, UN Peacekeeping in Civil Wars, won the 2010 Book Award from the Friends of the Academic Council on the UN System for the best book on the UN system published in the previous three years. Her recent articles have examined historical changes to the ways that civil wars end as well as on the use of force in UN peacekeeping. Her 2019 book, Power in Peacekeeping, explores the various tools peacekeepers use to exert power and realize the objectives of their missions. In 2018, she delivered a TedX Georgetown talk on UN peacekeeping.
“The Use of Force in UN Peacekeeping.” With Anjali Dayal. International Organization. 72 2018: 71-103.
“How Civil Wars End: The International System, Norms, and the Role of External Actors.” With Alexandra Stark. International Security. 42 2017-18: 127-171.
“Why Civil Wars Are Lasting Longer.” Foreign Affairs. February 27, 2018.
“U.S. Foreign Policy Habits in Ethnic Conflict.” International Studies Quarterly. 59 2016: 721-734.
