EXCERPTS:

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

SAGE Sara Miller McCune Fellow at CASBS, Stanford University 2024 – 2025
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS)

Associate Professor (with Tenure), Boston University 2024 –

Assistant Professor, Boston University 2019 – 2023
Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies
Graduate Faculty, Department of Political Science
Associate Director, Human Capital Initiative, Global Development Policy Center
Faculty Affiliate, Institute for Economic Development

Assistant Professor, New York University AD 2013 – 2019
Political Science Program, Social Science Division
Global Network (Affiliated) Professor, Politics Department, NYU

BOOK

Women, Power, and Property: The Paradox of Gender Equality Laws in India. 2020. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Studies in Gender and Politics Series.

Winner: Gregory Luebbert Prize for the best book in Comparative Politics,
American Political Science Association, 2021.

Featured In: The New York Times, The Interpreter; New Books Network; Grand Tamasha

ARTICLES

Who Actually Governs? Inequalities and Political Representation in Rural India.(with Alyssa R. Heinze and Simon Chauchard). Forthcoming. Journal of Politics.

Women & Power in the Developing World.” 2023. The Annual Review of Political Science, Vol. 26.

Climate Shocks & Gendered Political Transformation: How Crises Alter Women’s Political Representation.” 2023. Politics & Gender.

Culture, Capital & the Gender Gap in Political Economy Preferences: Evidence from Meghalaya’s Matrilineal Tribes.” (with Nikhar Gaikwad). 2021. Journal of Politics, 83(3).

Winner: Pi Sigma Alpha Award for Best Paper Overall, Midwest Political Science Association, 2017; Kellogg/Notre Dame Award for Best Paper in Comparative Politics, MPSA, 2017.

Reform, Representation, and Resistance: The Politics of Property Rights’ Enforcement.” 2020. Journal of Politics, 82(4): 1390-1405.

Women’s Inheritance Rights Reform and the Preference for Sons in India.” (with Sonia Bhalotra and Sanchari Roy). 2020. Journal of Development Economics, 146.

Accounting for Accountability: Local Government and Social Equality in India.” 2015. Asian Survey, 55(5). Special Edition on State Capacity in India.

UNDER REVIEW

“Do Multidimensional Quotas Improve Social Equality? Intersectional Representation & Group Relations.” (with Aliz Tóth). R&R, The Journal of Politics.

“Extreme Weather Expands Women’s Autonomy Where Households are Labor-Constrained: Evidence on the Impact of Droughts in Bangladesh.” (with Akshay Dixit). Working Paper available upon request.

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

2024-29 – National Science Foundation CAREER Award for “Dynamics of Women’s Political & Economic Empowerment: An Open Database Project” ($661,302).

2024-2025 SAGE Sara Miller McCune Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), Stanford University

September 2024-Present Lead Editor (with Ana Catalano Weeks) of Cambridge Studies in Gender & Politics book series, Cambridge University Press

2023-2024 – Center for Innovation in Social Science (CISS) Research Internship Mentor-Mentee Program Award, Boston University

2021 – Gregory Luebbert Prize for the Best Book in Comparative Politics, American Political Science Association (APSA)

2020 – Governance Fellow, Truman Foundation, Washington, DC

2017 – Pi Sigma Alpha Award for the Best Paper Overall, Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA)

2017 – Kellogg/Notre Dame Award for Best Paper in Comparative Politics, MPSA

2003 – Marshall Scholarship

2002 – Truman Scholarship (NY)

GRANTS

2024-29 – National Science Foundation CAREER Award for “Dynamics of Women’s Political & Economic Empowerment: An Open Database Project” ($661,302).

2021-22 – National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) & Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, “Economic Shocks and Gender” PI, with Akshay Dixit ($20,000)

2021-24 – BU Global Programs & BU Foundation-India, “Do Peer Mentorship Groups Increase the Political Agency of First-time Female Politicians?” PI, with Paro Sen, Simon Chauchard, Bhumi Purohit & Alyssa Heinze ($30,000)

2020-23 – Hewlett Foundation, for support of the Program on Women’s Empowerment (POWER) Research, HCI, GDP Center, BU ($500,000)

2019-21 – CVoter Foundation, Corporate Social Responsibility Grant ($35,000)

2017-2019 – Research & Empirical Analysis of Labor Migration, Gendered Differences in the Causes and Consequences of Migration: Experimental Evidence from India and the United Arab Emirates” (with Nikhar Gaikwad). Granted by Columbia University, INCITE. Declined.

OTHER AFFILIATIONS

  • Co-organizer, Alliance for Afghan Women’s Economic Empowerment, BU & US Department of State Partnership, 20 September, 2022-Present.
  • Associate Director, Human Capital Initiative, BU Global Development Policy Center, July 1, 2023-Present.
  • Editorial Board Member, Indian Politics & Policy, May 8, 2023-Present.
  • Editorial Board Member, Politics & Gender, Summer 2022-Present.
  • Editorial Board Member, Signs, Fall 2020-Present.
  • Co-Chair, Comparative Politics of Developing Countries Division, American Political Science Association, 2023 Annual Conference, Summer 2022-Present.
  • Board of Trustees, Boston University Representative, American Institute of Bangladesh Studies, Jan. 2022-Present.
  • Luebbert Book Prize Selection Committee, American Political Science Association, 2022.
  • Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Founding Member, Pardee School, BU, 2021-Present.
  • Executive Board Member, Empirical Gender Research Network, 2019-2021.
  • Visiting Researcher, WZB, “Institutions and Political Inequality” Research Unit, led by Prof. Macartan Humphreys, Summer 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023.
  • Research Affiliate, Global TIES for Children, Spring 2015-Present.

INVITED TALKS

2025

  • Department of Political Science, Stanford University
  • International Development Research Seminar, The London School of Economics

2024

  • Department of Political Science, Yale University
  • Department of Political Science Speaker Series, UCLA
  • Harvard Kennedy School Program in Women & Public Policy Speaker Series, Harvard University
  • School of Global Policy and Strategy & Center on Gender Equity and Health Seminar, UCSD
  • USC Center for Law and Social Sciences Seminar, University of Southern California
  • Workshop on Instrumental Incoherence, The Sante Fe Institute

2023

  • Book Workshop: Shocks & Politics: Understanding Disaster Preparedness (J. Bussell), Government Department & Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell University
  • Comparative Politics Colloquium, University of California at Berkeley
  • Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin
  • Global Diversity Lab Seminar, Political Science Department, MIT
  • Political Economy Speaker Series, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University
  • Workshop on Instrumental Incoherence, European University Institute

2022

  • Comparative Politics Speaker Series, Princeton University
  • Book Adda: Veeraraghavan (2021) Patching Development, Center for Contemporary South Asia, Watson Institute, Brown University
  • Gender & Political Economy Book Panel, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
  • Gender Equality & Women Empowerment–Breaking the Bias, Valedictory Speaker, University College for Women, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India
  • International Conference on the Role of Law in Diverse Societies, Hebrew University
  • Institutions & Political Inequality Brownbag Research Seminar, WZB, Berlin
  • Meghalaya State Women’s Conference, Organized by the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, India
  • Politics Colloquium, School of Politics & Global Studies, Arizona State University
  • Women’s Leadership in South Asia, Council on Foreign Relations, Washington, DC
  • Seminar, Saïd Business School, Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, and the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford

2021

  • Economic & Social Justice Workshop, Center for Economic Growth, Yale University
  • Comparative Politics Colloquium, Vanderbilt University
  • Research Workshop in Political Economy, Harvard University
  • Complex Governance Seminar Series, American University
  • Comparative Politics Colloquium, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Empirical Studies on Women, Gender & Conflict, Cornell University
  • Politics of Development, Guest Lecturer for Prof. Nair, Harvard Kennedy School
  • Workshop on Gender and Politics in India, CCI, University of California at Berkeley
  • Institutions & Political Inequality Brownbag Research Seminar, WZB, Berlin

2020

  • Comparative Politics Workshop, Yale University
  • Frontiers in Global Development Seminar Series by the Departments of Politics and Economics & the Batten School of Public Policy, University of Virginia
  • Empirical Gender Research Network (E-GEN), Junior Faculty Workshop, BU
  • Research in Comparative Politics Seminar, Political Science & Pardee School, BU
  • Institute for Economic Development Research Seminar, Boston University
  • Political Science Seminar, Northeastern University
  • Boston-Cambridge South Asia Reading Group Seminar, Harvard University
  • Politics of Development, Guest Lecturer for Prof. Cammet, Harvard University
  • Us & Them: Group Identity & Politics, Guest Lecture, Prof. Haas, Aarhus University

2019

  • Harvard-Brown-MIT Seminar on South Asian Politics, Harvard University
  • Seminar on the Rise of Authoritarian \Strongmen” Figures, Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University
  • DC Indian Political Economy Workshop, Carnegie Endowment for Peace & SAIS “Invisible Institutionalism” Book Workshop, Onati, Spain
  • New Directions in Research on Identity and Governance, Monash University-Prato

REFERENCES

Melani Cammet. Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs, Department of Government & Director, The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Harvard University. mcammett “at” g.harvard.edu

Beatriz Magaloni. Graham H. Stuart Professor of International Relations, Political Science Department & Director, Poverty, Violence and Governance Lab. Stanford University. magaloni “at” stanford.edu

Diana Z. O’Brien. Bela Kornitzer Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis. dzobrien “at” wustl.edu

James Alt. Frank G. Thomson Professor of Government, Emeritus, Department of
Government. Harvard University. james alt “at” harvard.edu