I am a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a specialization in comparative politics. My principle area of interest is Latin America. My other fields of study are international relations and methodology, with a particular focus on international political economy. My dissertation, Governing Development: Foreign Direct Investment and the State in Brazil, examines the relationships among multinational corporations and state institutions in post-democratization Brazil. I will defend this dissertation in the spring of 2010.