His research and teaching interests center on comparative political economy with a focus on oil and mineral wealth and government-business relations. His primary regions of interest are the Middle East (Iran/Gulf region) and South Asia (India). His research has been published in World Development , Journal of Development Studies , Middle East Journal , Middle Eastern Studies , and Iranian Studies . In 2011, he was a Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. From 2010 to 2011, he worked at the World Bank in Washington, DC, conducting political economy research on natural resources, public financial management, and public goods provision in India. He received training in quantitative methodology at the University of Washington, the EITM Institutes, and ICPSR. He received his PhD from the University of Washington in 2011.