My Story

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. My research is primarily in the subfield of American politics with particular emphasis on endorsements by electoral officeholders in primary election contexts. I also study religion and dabble in other subjects such as rural sentiment and political geography.

Methodologically, I have extensive experience in the survey research field. Prior to (and occasionally during) my time as a student at the University of Michigan, I worked for Y2 Analytics - a survey research and data analytics firm based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Working for them, I was involved in every single facet of the survey research process from questionnaire design to data analysis and everything in between. My own research at U of M has involved survey work including randomized survey experiments. I'm familiar with and have employed a wide variety of regression models including linear, logit, and ordered probit regressions. Other methodological tools I have practice with include various categorical methods such as mixed logit choice models and chi-squared analyses, conjoint analysis, text analysis, network analysis, and more.

I double-majored in statistics (with honors) and political science at Utah State University. I also minored in math. Both the political science and statistics departments selected me as the undergraduate student of the year.

My time at Y2 Analytics allowed me to work for a wide variety of clients including political clients (e.g., the Republican Party of Utah), corporate clients (e.g., Nike), and municipal clients (e.g., the city of Herriman, Utah). This presented me with a wide variety of client needs that I was asked to meet. I have experience thinking critically about real world questions and coming up with data-driven ways to arrive at answers to them.

I lived in Mexico City for two years as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This experience was incredibly rewarding and left a major impact on who I am as an individual. My time was spent doing service and teaching. I obtained extensive teaching experience as I regularly taught in excess of 45 lessons per week that were each individually adapted to the individual circumstances of the lesson's recipient. Towards the end of my two years, I was asked to serve as the Assistant to the Mission President where I was responsible for adequately training over 200 other missionaries on their teaching abilities.

I grew up in northern Utah and love everything about it including its majestic mountains and its wonderful people.