Ellen graduated with Highest Honors from American University in 2020 where she studied International Relations with a regional focus on Latin America. Her undergraduate thesis, titled “Covert Action in Latin America: Congressional Involvement in Chile and Argentina—Oversight or Something Else?” focused on the effects of changing human rights norms on covert action in US Foreign Policy during the Cold War.
In pursuing this program, Ellen hopes to continue to study democracy, norms, and regime change. She is also especially interested in the impacts of record keeping and information access as a means of power and coercion in the context of governance.
Ellen spent the last year out of school working in DC for the Department of Homeland Security as a FOIA analyst, hoping to glean insight into document management and transparency within the US government. After a year of working, she decided to return to school to further investigate her research interests.
When she’s not at studying, Ellen enjoys making coffee, running, and baking.
