Ross is interested in better understanding what forms of influence and types of evidence may motivate policy makers working on humanitarian aid issues, particularly in contexts in which aid diversion or malfeasance is suspected or known. He has been the Senior Humanitarian Advisor for USAID in Ethiopia for the past five years, directing a humanitarian portfolio that has provided tens of millions of people with life-saving assistance in response to multiple compounding crises throughout the country (e.g., civil war, drought, desert locusts, conflict induced displacement).

Previously, Ross was a humanitarian aid worker managing emergency responses in South Sudan, Turkey, Greece, Haiti, and Iraq for a large iNGO. He volunteered with the United States Peace Corps for two years in the Errachidia Province of Morocco. He was awarded a Rotary Peace Fellowship to pursue an MA in Conflict, Security and Development from the University of Bradford's Peace Studies Center.