I received my B.A degree in History and German Studies, graduating magna cum laude from Binghamton University in 2016. My honors thesis involved conducting archival work at the Stasi Records Agency (BStU) while studying at the University of Leipzig in Germany, in order to examine the use of state surveillance in economic planning during the Honecker Era in East Germany between 1970 and 1989. At Columbia University and LSE, the prospect of studying the interrelation of politics and economics in history on a global scale while also exploring my fascination with Soviet Russia motivated a dissertation on the early period of Soviet diplomacy. I’m currently pursuing a Ph.D in Russian and Soviet history at the University of Pennsylvania.
