I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia (UVa), expecting to defend my dissertation in May 2026 under the supervision of David Leblang (Chair), Sonal Pandya, Anne Meng, and Kirill Zhirkov. My research interests are motivated by my passion for economic development and human rights. I study international political economy and comparative politics, focusing on how emerging technologies enhance inclusion and opportunity while reshaping citizen-state relationships, especially in emerging economies. My doctoral research, which has informed the development and teaching of a specialized course on the political economy of financial technologies (fintech), reveals that politics influences fintech adoption, ultimately impacting development and inclusion. I aim to extend my fintech frameworks to other emerging technologies. Beyond the political roots of financial behavior, my research explores how states govern emerging technologies, examining why countries differ in their regulation of innovation. I argue that legal origins systematically influence regulatory approaches, demonstrating how historical institutional legacies continue influencing contemporary responses to technology. In my dissertation, I examine these questions through mixed methods including panel data analyses, interviews, surveys, and experimental designs. This research agenda has attracted support from leading institutions, with fellowships and grants totaling over $40,000 from organizations including the Bankard Fund Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, Adam Smith Fellowship, and CEPR's Private Enterprise Development in Low Income Countries (PEDL) initiative.

I started my PhD at UVa in 2021 after completing a Master of Public Policy (MPP) at the University of Oxford to pursue my long standing interest in the intersection of Business, Economics, and Public Policy. From 2021-2025, concurrently to my PhD, I was also a part time member of the Economics and Market Research team at the International Finance Corporation (IFC - World Bank Group). Prior to that, I completed the Huntsman Program, a dual-degree undergraduate course across the Wharton School of Business and the College of Arts and Sciences in Economics and International Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and worked in strategy consulting for two years at Strategy&, PwC.

I am fluent in English, French, Arabic and have full proficiency in Spanish.