On the Job Market · 2026–2027

I am a doctoral candidate in Economic Sociology at the MIT Sloan School of Management. I study identity and narrative in markets: how organizations, innovators, and activists communicate strategically to persuade and coordinate stakeholders, and with what implications for markets and policy.

My dissertation centers on activist short sellers. These financial-market contrarians publish narrative reports of imminent decline about public companies, alleging misconduct, fraud, and overvaluation. Drawing on organization theory and economic sociology, I show how outsiders use identity and narrative to build credibility and influence without being absorbed by the institutions they contest. In new work, I study how investors, founders, and policymakers destigmatized defense and dual-use technology, turning it into one of the fastest-growing categories in venture capital. The project compares the US, Canada, and Europe, and fits into my larger research stream on entrepreneurship, early-stage investing, and innovation policy. My job market paper is under revise-and-resubmit at Research Policy, and my review of narrative research appears in the Academy of Management Annals (2025).

My research investigates:

• Why and how outsiders turn an outsider identity into a resource rather than a liability
• How strategic communicators use digital media and tailor narratives for audiences with divergent standards
• How activist investors use the tools and concepts of social movements to move the market
• When anecdotes strengthen or undermine founders’ credibility with professional audiences
• The role of Silicon Valley in markets and society, from storytelling to military startups

Before MIT, I was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, worked at Bridgewater Associates and Moody’s, and managed a lab at Cornell Johnson. I hold an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in Economics from Syracuse University.

Please feel free to reach out.