I am an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Political Science at Vanderbilt University and a Senior Research Affiliate of the Global Priorities Institute at the University of Oxford. Before coming to Vanderbilt, I was a Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at the Global Priorities Institute and a Non-Stipendiary Research Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College. Before that, I completed my PhD in philosophy at the University of Arizona under the primary supervision of the late, great Jerry Gaus.

I work primarily in social, moral, and political philosophy. Much of my research is interdisciplinary: it brings social scientific tools and evidence to bear on moral and political questions, and so falls under the umbrella of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (“PPE”). Although I work on a wide range of topics, most connect to questions about social reform or improvement, such as: How should we theorize about social reform? What makes social institutions better or worse? How do social institutions function and change? And when and how should individuals contribute to efforts to promote social reform? ​I am especially interested in approaching these questions from a long-term and expansive perspective that attends both to our institutions’ long-run evolution and to their effects on people in other societies, on non-human animals, and on future generations.