His current research focuses on public goods provision and state capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has conducted randomized evaluations and extensive archival and ethnographic fieldwork in several pastoralist communities in the Laikipia Region of Kenya. He is also the co-founder of the SAFI Project, a nonprofit organization that coordinates waste management and recycling activities in northern Kenya. His research has been supported by the International Livestock Research Institute, the Institute for Social and Policy Studies, the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, and the Program on Order, Conflict, and Violence. He holds a BA in ethics, politics, and economics from Yale University, and a PhD in political science, also from Yale.