I’m a social scientist specializing in labor market research and social policy. For over 15 years, I’ve studied how work, inequality, and economic insecurity intersect, from temporary employment and nonstandard work to questions of poverty, unemployment, and data privacy. I hold a PhD in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an M.A. in Regional Economic and Social Development from the University of Massachusetts–Lowell. Originally from the United States, I now live in Germany and hold dual U.S. and German citizenship.

Since 2023, I have been a research associate at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg. Currently, I work in the Department of Joblessness and Social Exclusion, where I conduct applied labour market research on unemployment, poverty, and social participation using advanced quantitative methods. I lead and support complex research projects, advise policy stakeholders, and publish in both academic and policy outlets. My current focus includes economic insecurity, nonstandard employment, intra- and inter-generational mobility, and social policy in comparative perspective.

Previously at the IAB, I worked in the Center for Empirical Methods as part of a collaborative project funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the European Union’s NextGenerationEU initiative. There, I evaluated statistical methods — including parametric models, machine learning, and deep learning — for generating synthetic data that balance privacy protection with statistical utility. The aim was to expand access to sensitive research data without compromising confidentiality.

From 2018 to 2023, I was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Bamberg on a project funded by the European Research Council. This project investigated the social and economic consequences of temporary employment. One of my key contributions was addressing an empirical paradox: the incidence and distribution of temporary employment are stable, despite substantial policy changes in Europe and perceptions to the contrary. My research used cross-sectional and panel data to show that the temporary employment rate may be constant, but the risk of experiencing at least one temporary contract over a four-year period is rising. This paper was published in European Societies and won the journal’s Best Paper Award for 2021–2023.

In 2014, I moved to Germany on a doctoral research fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to complete my dissertation at Goethe University in Frankfurt. From 2015 to 2017, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), where I taught courses, published research from my doctoral studies, and began to learn German. 🙂

Before graduate school, I spent nearly a decade implementing, researching, and evaluating economic development initiatives — particularly job training programs in the U.S.  While these programs successfully helped participants acquire new skills, they were less successful in helping participants improve their job prospects or earnings.  This paradox led me to graduate school to investigate why. One explanation is that technological change reshaped labor demand, increasing opportunities at both the high and low ends of the skills spectrum while eroding middle-skill jobs. At the same time, many workers in these declining middle-skill occupations are older, making retraining a less viable policy solution. This structural shift challenges conventional approaches to workforce development.  More generally, the experience continues to shape my research on employment transitions and labor market inequalities.