I am a Political Science PhD candidate at the George Washington University where I specialize in comparative politics and quantitative methods. My research focuses on political communication, mis/disinformation, public diplomacy, and political psychology, with a regional emphasis on post-Soviet Central Asia and Eastern Europe. My methodological expertise spans quantitative and experimental methods, including causal inference, survey experiments, and text analysis. 

My dissertation looks at the strategic narratives produced and promoted by states during international crises and the impact of emotions on public reception of such narratives. Empirically, I use the 2022 Ukraine War as an international crisis, as it serves as a stark illustration of competing narratives, and media outlets affiliated with different actors striving to shape public understanding of the events and garner international support. This study contributes to the understanding of these narratives and their impact on public opinion in Kazakhstan. 

At GWU, I was affiliated with the Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics and the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies. Prior to joining GWU, I earned a Master of Arts in Global Affairs from the University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan. I also spent a semester as an exchange student at California State University, Bakersfield on a U.S. State Department scholarship. 

I have completed advanced training in quantitative methods through programs at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan, and in international survey methods through the LAPOP Summer School at Vanderbilt University. From 2023 to 2025, I was a Visiting Scholar at the New York University Jordan Center for the  Advanced Study of Russia. 

My work has been published in PLOS One, Post-Soviet Affairs, and Communist and Post-Communist Studies. I have also served as a peer reviewer for Post-Soviet Affairs and Communist and Post-Communist Studies. Alongside my academic research, I am committed to public scholarship, and my writing has appeared in Foreign Policy, PONARS Eurasia, and Vlast, among other outlets.

At GWU, I worked as a teaching assistant in both the Department of Political Science and Elliott School of International Affairs for courses such as Introduction to Comparative Politics, Introduction to International Affairs, and Nationalism. Beginning in Fall 2025, I am teaching my own undergraduate course, Politics of Information, as part of Dean's Graduate Lectureship at the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.