He received his Ph.D. in 2007 from the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago, specializing in international relations. His principal research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of international relations theory, security studies, and diplomatic history. He is currently writing on why leaders have resorted to deception to sell wars to their publics. His article on the topic, “The Deception Dividend: FDR’s Undeclared War,” appeared in the Spring 2010 issue of International Security (Vol. 34, No. 4: 133-165). He has also co-authored with Sebastian Rosato an article on “A Realist Foreign Policy for the United States” which appeared in the December 2011 issue of Perspectives on Politics (Vol. 9, No. 4: 803-819).