Her research interests focus primarily on ethnic politics, voter behavior, and political parties in developing democracies, with a regional specialization in sub-Saharan Africa. She has a secondary research interest in methodology for comparative politics. Her work has been published in American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, and other outlets. She is a member of EGAP (Experiments in Governance and Politics) and her research in Ghana has been supported by the National Science Foundation. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University and was previously on the faculty in the Department of Government at Harvard University.