Fieldwork, Cartagena Colombia 2019. The photo captures the interaction between culture (Cathedral in the background) and political institutions (Mayor Office to the left), in the presence of citizens and public servants as active actors. This image reflects the essence and the complexity of my research agenda.

Welcome!

I am Assistant Professor at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. I have a Ph.D. in the Political Science Department at Texas A&M University, with an emphasis in public administration, public policy and comparative politics. I am the Co-Principal Investigator for the World Values Survey in Colombia. I received a Master in Public Policy from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) in 2013, and a BA in Political Science from Universidad Javeriana (Colombia) in 2009.

I believe that public servants and citizens are key actors for social change. I am interested in understanding how their attitudes and behaviors shape policy outcomes, and also how public and private interventions promote behavioral changes. My research agenda focuses on local development, bureaucrats’ behavior, decentralization and behavioral public policy. I am also interested in Latin American Politics, peace building and human rights, and political culture. I have expertise in using mixed methods research design, and field and survey experiments.

I have taught and conducted research, consultancy and fieldwork in Colombia, Brazil, United States and Sri Lanka. I also served as manager in the public sector in Colombia for 7 years.

I am a Fulbright Scholar. In the last year, I have been awarded with three fellowships for research at Texas A&M University: Grant Mays Innovation Research Center – Mays Business School; Charles H. Gregory Class of ’64 Graduate Strategic Fellowship of the  College of Liberal Arts and the Glasscock Graduate Research Fellowship.

“Social Sciences are also a source of innovation”, Nathalie Mendez (interview in Revista Semana -Semana Magazine, in press here)