I am Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Women & Politics Ph.D. Program at Rutgers University. I joined the Department of Political Science as an Associate Professor in 2012. Previously, I was an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. I earned my Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University in 2005. My doctoral dissertation, Politicizing Representation: Campaigns for Candidate Gender Quotas Worldwide, received an Honorable Mention from the American Political Science Association for the Best Dissertation on Women and Politics in 2006.

My first book, Quotas for Women in Politics: Gender and Candidate Selection Reform Worldwide, was published in 2009 by Oxford University Press. It won the American Political Science Association's Victoria Schuck Award in 2010 for the best book on women and politics. In 2019, it was further honored with a George H. Hallett Award from the Representation and Electoral Systems Section, recognizing a book published at least 10 years ago that has made a lasting contribution to the literature on representation and electoral systems. I have also written scholarly articles appearing in the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, the European Journal of International Relations, the European Journal of Political Research, the Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and Politics & Gender, among others.

In addition, I am co-editor with Sarah Childs of Women, Gender, and Politics: A Reader (Oxford University Press, 2010); with Fiona Mackay of Gender, Politics, and Institutions: Towards a Feminist Institutionalism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011); with Susan Franceschet and Jennifer M. Piscopo of The Impact of Gender Quotas (Oxford University Press, 2012); with John R. Bowen, Christophe Bertossi, and Jan Willem Duyvendak of European States and their Muslim Citizens: The Impact of Institutions on Perceptions and Boundaries (Cambridge University Press, 2013); with Par Zetterberg of Gender Quotas and Women's Representation: New Directions in Research (Routledge, 2015); and with Susan Franceschet and Netina Tan of The Palgrave Handbook of Women's Political Rights (New York: Palgrave, 2019).

My current research explores the global diffusion and impact of electoral quotas for women, as well as the rising global phenomenon of violence against women in politics. This research was funded by a multi-year Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (2010-2017). I have collected quantitative data and conducted qualitative field research in nine countries, investigating how the introduction of gender quotas has shaped trends in candidate selection, legislative behavior, public opinion, and mass mobilization. In conjunction with this project, I manage a Facebook page on Electoral Gender Quotas to facilitate the sharing of news, resources, and publications on this topic.

My work on violence against women in politics grew out of this research and explores mechanisms of resistance and backlash towards women's greater inclusion in the political sphere. In addition to authoring academic articles, I have collaborated with the National Democratic Institute to develop the #NotTheCost Global Call to Action to Stop Violence Against Women in Politics. I am also the co-creator with Juliana Restrepo Sanin of a bilingual Facebook group on this topic, engaging scholars and practitioners around the world. In 2017, I was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow to pursue additional fieldwork in seven countries and write a book on violence and harassment against women in politics. The resulting volume, Violence against Women in Politics, was published by Oxford University Press in September 2020 and was recognized with the 2022 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.

Since 2006, I have been co-convenor with Fiona Mackay, Louise Chappell, and Georgina Waylen of the Feminism and Institutionalism International Network. Since 2009, I have served as a Network Expert for the International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics, an online resource designed to serve the needs of elected officials, candidates, political parties, researchers, students, and other practitioners interested in advancing women in politics. From 2010-2013, I was also an Associate Editor of Politics & Gender, the official journal of the Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association. In 2011, I was invited to join the American Political Science Association Task Force on Electoral Rules and Democratic Governance to examine the role of political science in configuring and refashioning electoral rules in aspiring and established democracies. In 2022, I became the lead editor of Politics & Gender.

Awards I have received for my articles and papers include the Intergenerational Justice Award in 2018 from the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations and the Intergenerational Foundation for a paper co-authored with Mary K. Nugent; the Wilma Rule Award in 2016 for Best Research on Gender and Politics from the International Political Science Association; the Best Paper Prize in 2015 from the Women and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association for a paper co-authored with Juliana Restrepo Sanin; the Harrison Prize in 2011 from the UK Political Studies Association for the best article published in Political Studies in 2010; the Sophonisba Breckinridge Award in 2008 from the Midwest Political Science Association for a paper co-authored with Diana Z. O'Brien; and the Women's Caucus Prize in 2009 from the Northeastern Political Science Association for a paper co-authored with Farida Jalalzai.

Other honors include an Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award in 2009 from the Graduate Student Senate and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Washington University; the inaugural Early Career Award in 2012 from the Midwest Women's Caucus of the Midwest Political Science Association for research accomplishments and contributions to the discipline; and the Emerging Scholar Award in 2015 from the Elections, Public Opinion and Voting Behavior Section of the American Political Science Association for the top scholar in the field who is within 10 years of his or her Ph.D. In 2015, I was named a Chancellor's Scholar, recognizing "truly outstanding and highly promising scholars" at Rutgers University.

A firm believer in engaging across the academic-practitioner divide, I have served as a consultant for a variety of civil society organizations, governments, and international organizations in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East on strategies to elect more women to political office and enhance the impact of female politicians. I also wrote the inaugural report for the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the representation of young people in national parliaments around the world, which I presented at the first IPU Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians in 2014. In 2021, I received the Chancellor's Award for Global Impacts and was named to Apolitical's 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy List. I was also presented with the American Political Science Association’s Distinguished Award for Civic and Community Engagement, honoring significant civic or community engagement activity by a political scientist.

In 2008-2009, I was a Hrdy Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, as well as a Fellow in the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. Upon finishing my Ph.D., I was an Economic and Social Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Politics at the University of Bristol (2004-2005). I have also been a visiting researcher at the University of Stockholm (2001-2002), the University of Helsinki (1997-1998), the Autonomous University of Madrid (1995-1996), and the University of Oslo (1995).