Curtis is a political science Ph.D. candidate and former American Political Science Association DFP (Diversity Fellowship Program) Fellow at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He was born and raised in Virginia. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Virginia Commonwealth University and a master's from George Mason University, where he studied under Jennifer Nicoll Victor.

While working on his master’s, Curtis interned at the Obama Foundation in the Programs Department as part of its education team. His time there was focused on understanding how people learn and become civically engaged. Curtis worked as an organizer mobilizing communities of color and educating voters who recently had their voting rights restored. He continued to organize during the 2020 Iowa Caucus, where he worked for Kamala Harris, and during the general election for the coordinated campaign in Arizona. He later became the constituent advocate and legislative correspondent for Senator Mark R. Warner in Washington, D.C.

He serves concurrently as a graduate research associate at the Campbell Public Affairs Institute at Syracuse under Christopher J. Faricy and as a research assistant in Georgetown’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program under Nadia E. Brown.

While at Syracuse University, he has been the recipient of the department Flash Grant Award (2022-2023), Stonecash Award (2022), Ketcham Award (2023), Andersen Award (2024), and earned a department nomination to attend the Institute for Qualitative & Multi-Method Research (IQMR).

His research focus is on American politics and institutions with an emphasis on the U.S. presidency; legislative behavior of members of Congress; race, gender and representation in Congress; and constitutional law. His dissertation topic focuses on the congressional bonding activities among Black congresswomen in the House of Representatives.

Curtis is a member of the American Political Science Association, National Conference of Black Political Scientists, Midwest Political Science Association, Southern Political Science Association, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated.