I serve as a Postdoctoral Fellow and NLP/Machine Learning Researcher for The University of Central Florida’s National Center for Integrated Coastal Research and School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs. I hold a Ph.D. in Security Studies from the University of Central Florida (UCF). Currently my research is focused on quantifying adaptive pathways for coastal systems utilizing advanced computational methods. My dissertation uses spatial and environmental determinants to better predict global coups d’etat. My broader research interests include food security, political psychology, civil-military relations, and forecasting. You can find my current CV here.

Previously I taught GIS for Political Analysis in the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs. As part of the class curriculum, I have generated a series of Jupyter notebooks in the GitHub repository POS4764 that are self-contained Python walkthroughs on topics such as terrorism, conflict, and voting behavior.

When I’m not exploring social phenomena with a computer, I enjoy hiking, pickup sports of any kind, and most of all working with dogs! Check out a free resource I’ve released here. I now offer consultation for both dog handling mentorship and a suite of data science applications through Cypress Synergy LLC.

Rivia