She earned her PhD in political science from the University of California, Davis in 2004. Dr. Sullivan's research focuses on the utility and limitations of deploying military force and providing foreign military assistance to attain policy objectives. She was recently named a 2015 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Her research has been published in numerous academic journals, and she is the author of Who Wins? Predicting Strategic Success and Failure in Armed Conflict (Oxford University Press, 2012). Dr. Sullivan's work has attracted funding and recognition from the National Science Foundation, the Peace Science Society (International), and the Office of Naval Research, among others.