Selected research and writing
These are the products that can be read publicly. Open each entry for a concise account of the question, my contribution, the evidence, and where the work traveled afterward.
Original research · Wilson Center
Arms Trafficking Across the U.S.–Mexico Border
Government data, open sources, and a public account of cross-border firearms flows.
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Original research · Wilson Center
Arms Trafficking Across the U.S.–Mexico Border
Government data, open sources, and a public account of cross-border firearms flows.
The question
How were firearms moving from legal markets in the United States into Mexico, and what could the available evidence establish about routes, purchasing methods, and changes over time?
My contribution
I analyzed six years of ATF, GAO, FGR, and UNODC material, checked the patterns against government reports and open-source reporting, and translated the results into a series of public infographics.
Where it traveled
Mexico News Daily republished the work. It was cited and quoted in a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief, cited in a European University Institute thesis and a Naval Postgraduate School Global ECCO publication, and selected for the SWP Latin America monitor. Project staff confirmed that Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne presented the infographics during briefings with officials from State, Commerce, and DHS.
Editorial contribution · Wilson Center
Mexico’s Next President
A policy booklet prepared ahead of Mexico’s 2024 presidential election.
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Editorial contribution · Wilson Center
Mexico’s Next President
A policy booklet prepared ahead of Mexico’s 2024 presidential election.
The publication
The Mexico Institute assembled recommendations on energy, migration, USMCA and North America, security, water, and nearshoring for the presidential candidates and their teams.
My contribution
I helped edit the 58-page booklet and supported the wider sequence of election research, public events, and policy conversations from which it emerged.
Why it belongs here
The project shows a different side of policy work from my firearms research: editing contributions from several authors into a coherent public product intended for a consequential political transition.
Graduate analytical work
Graduate Research and Analysis
Selected completed portfolio work and clearly bounded faculty-led research contributions from my MPA, spanning policy analysis, evidence synthesis, research design, and decision modeling. Public materials are linked where they are ready to stand on their own.
Graduate Research and Analysis
Selected completed portfolio work and clearly bounded faculty-led research contributions from my MPA, spanning policy analysis, evidence synthesis, research design, and decision modeling. Public materials are linked where they are ready to stand on their own.
Graduate policy analysis · Portfolio edition complete
Grains of Death: Salt-Sized Tragedies in the Fentanyl Crisis
A long-form analysis tracing fentanyl’s international supply chain, trafficking economics, and policy challenges.
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Graduate policy analysis · Portfolio edition complete
Grains of Death: Salt-Sized Tragedies in the Fentanyl Crisis
A long-form analysis tracing fentanyl’s international supply chain, trafficking economics, and policy challenges.
The question
How do precursor markets, cartel production networks, border-smuggling practices, financial concealment, and unusually high profit margins combine to sustain the fentanyl crisis?
My contribution
I researched and wrote the report, drawing together government findings, policy research, public data, and investigative reporting. I translated that evidence into a narrative following the supply chain from precursor production in China and India through illicit manufacturing in Mexico and distribution in the United States.
Analytical approach
The paper traces chemical sourcing, clandestine production, cross-border movement, local distribution, and money laundering as connected stages of one market. It also uses quantitative comparisons and figures to explain fentanyl’s potency, transport efficiency, profitability, and broader economic costs.
Main conclusion
Controls imposed at one point often redirect suppliers, chemicals, and shipping methods elsewhere. A durable response requires international cooperation, chemical controls, financial investigation, targeted enforcement, and sustained attention to the vulnerabilities traffickers repeatedly exploit.
Project materials
Read the completed paper
Read the completed five-page portfolio edition directly on this site, including its figures, economic comparisons, and endnotes.
Graduate policy analysis · Portfolio edition complete
Catalyzing Immigration Reforms to Counter Criminal Networks
A state-responsive visa pilot designed to connect verified labor shortages with lawful entry and reduce the market power of smuggling networks.
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Graduate policy analysis · Portfolio edition complete
Catalyzing Immigration Reforms to Counter Criminal Networks
A state-responsive visa pilot designed to connect verified labor shortages with lawful entry and reduce the market power of smuggling networks.
The policy question
How could a limited state-sponsored visa pilot connect persistent, documented labor shortages with lawful employment in ways that reduce reliance on criminal intermediaries without displacing domestic workers?
My contribution
I developed the policy analysis, connected constrained lawful access to the market power of smuggling networks, evaluated three reform options, and built the analytic hierarchy process used to compare expected effectiveness, political and legal feasibility, implementation burden, equity, and cost.
Analytical framework
The project combines three-sector failure, moral-policy narratives, and the social construction of target populations. It compares AI-supported administration, regional processing and referral offices, and a state-sponsored visa pilot built around verified labor shortages, domestic recruitment safeguards, flexible eligibility rules, federal matching, and guaranteed employment before admission.
Recommendation
The public-interest AHP ranks the state-sponsored visa pilot first at 0.405, ahead of AI support at 0.312 and regional offices at 0.283. The recommendation is to authorize and test the pilot: participating states identify persistent shortages, approved employers document domestic recruitment at prevailing wages, and eligible applicants receive visas only after a government-facilitated match produces a guaranteed job. Federal vetting, worker portability, recruitment protections, and independent evaluation remain central safeguards. AI serves as administrative support rather than a substitute for the lawful pathway.
Project materials
Review the completed work
Read the revised policy analysis directly on this site, or review the editable presentation and corrected AHP workbook.
Systematic review · Faculty-led research
Executive and university-president succession
A faculty research project developed from a literature review into a documented evidence base and qualitative-coding workflow.
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Systematic review · Faculty-led research
Executive and university-president succession
A faculty research project developed from a literature review into a documented evidence base and qualitative-coding workflow.
The research process
I searched multiple academic databases, coded and synthesized the literature, and constructed a dataset to identify gaps in research on nonprofit executive succession.
How the project developed
The research design was later adapted to university-president succession. I used Excel and VBA to maintain the evidence base and assisted with the extraction of audiovisual material for qualitative coding.
Documentation
The supporting materials belong to the faculty-led research project and are not publicly distributed. This entry documents my role, methods, and contribution without reproducing the underlying files.
Essays and policy commentary
Visit my independent-writing archive on Substack.