I am an Assistant Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator in the Department of Professional Security Studies at New Jersey City University. My research agenda improves our understanding of why and how non-state actors select and utilize tactics of political violence, primarily terrorism, to accomplish their objectives. Consequently, I analyze how dissident and government behaviors interact to create dynamic conflict processes including shifts in opposition tactics, the interplay between dissidents' demand(s) and the state's response, and, ultimately conflict escalation. I earned my PhD in Political Science from Binghamton University specializing in International Relations, American Politics and Research Methodology.
I have conducted field research and work-related travel in Iraq, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey and Peru, building context around my quantitative/data-driven approach.
In a piece in the Washington Post I show how my research helps explain why ISIS attacked Paris on November 13th, 2015. The combination of changes in resource streams in ‘the ISIS caliphate’ and French domestic politics helps us understand why France was attacked when it was.
My academic work is published in Terrorism and Political Violence, Conflict Management and Peace Science, and on Political Violence @ a Glance. I have several foreign policy and political analysis pieces published by Diplomatic Courier: A Global Affairs Magazine.
When not working, I'm either at my boxing gym or enjoying life in New York City with my wife, Micol, and new daughter, Atlas.
