Bio
When I was 7 years old my grandfather shared his collection of National Geographic magazines... opening me up to a world that stretched far beyond my hometown in Lake Orion, Michigan. I was fascinated by the places and people documented within each issue and knew then that one day I would travel the world, working with people from my hometown and beyond.
Today, I am living my dream as a researcher who focuses on global security issues. After working in Senegal and Ghana, I held posts with organizations such as the United Nations Al-Qaida and Taliban (1267) Sanctions Committee, the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), and the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies (CETIS).
Currently, I am working with the Risk & Resilience Research Group at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zürich in Switzerland (see here for full profile). The current focus of my research examines how violent non-state actors are influenced by modern terrain dynamics. For this project, I am currently carrying out a case study that examines global trends in the targeting of energy infrastructure (TEI), which weaves together elements related to terrorism, criminality and energy security. This study has included field work in Nigeria (Niger Delta), the development of the Energy Infrastructure Attack Database, and international talks in places such as Singapore, USA, Jordan, UAE, and throughout Europe. Other research interests include resilience, critical infrastructure protection, African political and economic development, and the role of information communication technology in society - particularly in emergency/crisis planning and response.
In my spare time I help with US voter organization and registration activities for US expats living in Switzerland