As a PhD student at Ohio State University, Natalie specializes in International Relations, Comparative Politics, and Political Methodology. Natalie researches the intersection of human rights, conflict, institutional design, and international organizations, with an emphasis on transitional justice, aid, and development programming. Her cross-cutting focus is on women, ex-fighters, civilians, and post-conflict, rural communities.
Natalie is an APSA Diversity Fellow and an affiliate at The WomanStats Project. She has conducted research-based fieldwork in Colombia (on peace processes) and in Honduras and Venezuela (on natural disasters and micro-finance). Natalie was awarded the U.S. Fulbright fellowship and grants from OSU's Office of International Affairs to conduct surveys in Colombia. She has worked as a graduate research assistant within the Conflict2Peace Lab at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies and within the Office of International Affairs on a survey and interview project. She also designed and taught an online international course on peace processes and transitional justice for the Mershon Center.
Prior to PhD school, Natalie obtained a J.D. For seven years, she designed and taught courses on international development, human rights documentation and research methods, business ethics, and the women-peace-security movement at Brigham Young University. As part of UNICEF and Department of Defense research grants, Natalie has trained others to collect and analyze data on the status and human rights of women and girls, especially in conflict.
Long-term, Natalie aims to conduct multi-method research on peace process implementation, remedies for communities recovering from conflict, and the inclusion of women and rural residents in peace negotiations. She plans to teach Latin American politics, war and peace, and international organizations and law. She also plans to combine science and participatory methods to evaluate and foster better public policy.
Current Project:
Natalie’s current project investigates the implementation of the reintegration and rural reform provisions found within Colombia's 2016 peace agreement. Specifically, she compares the policies of the United Nations with country-specific innovations on reintegration models for ex-fighters leaving conflict. In measuring civilian acceptance of nearby ex-fighter communities and overall social cohesion in post-conflict villages, she aims to understand the impact of different aid, development, and housing programs and family arrangements on ex-fighter decisions to remain civilians and on civilian decisions to accept ex-fighters.
Affiliations:
WomanStats Project: http://www.womanstats.org
Women in International Security: https://www.wiisglobal.org
Publications:
https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315157344-34
https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/wps/1/
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15512169.2015.1125689
Memberships:
Law: Maryland State Bar Association
Political Science: International Studies Association, (historical) Memory Studies Association, Western Political Science Association, American Political Science Association