Doctoral Candidates & Research

Biodefense PhD Candidates

HyunJung Kim

Dissertation: Use of Unapproved Medical Countermeasures in Public Health Emergency Between the United States and South Korea
Chair: Greg Koblentz

Elise Rowe

Dissertation: The Public Health Ramifications of the US and International Rise of Health Securitization
Chair: Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley

Job Market Candidates

Aaron Stuvland 

Website | LinkedIn
Job Market Candidate
Dissertation: Talking Like a Populist: Assessing the Impact of Populist Rhetoric on Mainstream Parties in Western Democracies 
Chair: Mariely Lopez-Santana

Dersu Ekim Tanca 

Website | LinkedIn
Job Market Candidate
Dissertation: From 'Hybrid' towards 'Full' Authoritarianism? Regime Transitions in Turkey after 2011.
Chair: Eric McGlinchey

Political Science PhD Candidates

Melissa Bejjani

Dissertation: Thriving War Economies: Implications of Prolonging the Conflict, The Case of Syria
Chair: Bassam Haddad

Piper Biery

LinkedIn
Dissertation: Reconceptualizing the Non-State Challenge to Westphalian Sovereignty: The Sovereign Citizens Movement and Individual Sovereignty
Chair: Char Miller

Scott Blesdoe

Dissertation: Belief or Belonging? Untangling Evangelical Religiosity and its Impact on Behavioral Polarization
Chair: Jeremy Mayer

Jordan Cohen 

Website | LinkedIn
Dissertation: Arms Sales and Influence: Explaining Congressional Arms Sales Legislation
Chair: A. Trevor Thrall

Brian Davis 

Dissertation: Patron-Client Relations and Democratization in Asia: US Influence on Taiwan, South Korea, and the Philippines
Chair: Ming Wan

Matthew Fay 

Website
Dissertation: Military Service Systems and Battlefied Effectiveness
Chair: A. Trevor Thrall

Kyle Fowler

Dissertation: National Champions: Russian Energy Exports as an Instrument of State Power
Chair: Eric McGlinchey

Courtney Kayser

Dissertation: The Enemy of My Enemy: Rebel Group Strategies at the Onset of Civil Wars
Chair: Ahsan Butt

Keith Luter

Dissertation: The Arms Trade and Democratization: Explaining Variation in Outcomes
Chair: Eric McGlinchey

Doug Penhallegon

Dissertation: Self-Efficacy, Theories of Poverty, and Critical Pedagogy  in the (Re)Design of Job Readiness Training for TANF Recipients
Chair: Mariely Lopez-Santana

Erica Seng-White

Dissertation: Why variations exist between states in their level of nationalism in response to rising regional powers.
Chair: Ming Wan

Lauren Sidrow

Dissertation: Chinese Aid and Soft Power: Examining Recipient State Views of China Over Time
Chair: Peter Mandaville

Jason Smith

LinkedIn
Dissertation: Delegate or Abdicate: How Public Interest Influences Congressional and Executive Interactions
Chair: Jennifer Victor

Yang Yang 

LinkedIn
Dissertation: Examining Variation in States' Tax Expenditure Budgets
Chair: Robert McGrath

Job Market Candidates

Damon Dade

LinkedIn
Job Market Candidate
Dissertation: Ethical and Regulatory Frameworks for the Support of Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
Chair: Laurie Schintler

Katrina Dunlap 

LinkedIn
Job Market Candidate
Dissertation: Linking Public Trust in Government with Federal Disaster Relief Aid: A Case Study of Hurricane-Prone Gulf Coast Residents
Chair: Laurie Schintler

Aubrey Grant

Job Market Candidate
Dissertation: Networks and Policy Outcomes: The Case of Refugee Integration
Chair: Jennifer Victor

George Hutchinson 

LinkedIn
Job Market Candidate
Dissertation: Wedged Between Fear and Ambition: The Kim Dynasty's Nuclear Quest for Total Sovereignty
Chair: Ed Rhodes

Rich Outzen

LinkedIn
Job Market Candidate
Dissertation: Turning the Stripped Screw: Thirty Years of U.S. Coercive Diplomacy
Chair: Peter Mandaville

Abu Bakkar Siddique   

Website
Job Market Candidate
Dissertation: People’s Context, Corruption as Experience and Culture, and Tax Morale
Chair: Naoru Koizumi

Hong Zhang  

LinkedIn
Job Market Candidate
Dissertation: China's international development: domestic mechanisms and contextualized impacts
Chair: Jack Goldstone

 

Public Policy PhD Candidates

Addilyn Chams-Eddine 

Dissertation: A Consideration of Foreign Direct Investment, Total Factor Productivity, and Financial Sector FDI
Chair: Ken Button

Yi-Ting Chiu

LinkedIn
Dissertation: What creates a Village? -- the Socio-economic Factors Supporting “the Village Movement.”
Chair: Jack Goldstone

Malia Dalesandry 

LinkedIn
Dissertation: Persistent Illegality as a Protracted Crisis: Marginalization and Rational Choice within the Sex Work Community
Chair: Laurie Schintler

Aaron Finney

Dissertation: Understanding the Digital Divide in U.S. Public Schools: An Case of Federal Technology Subsidies and Access in Virginia
Chair: Connie McNeely

Allison Grayson 

Dissertation: Communicating the Nonprofit Sector to the Federal Policy Arena
Chair: Alan Abramson

Anna Hartman 

LinkedIn
Dissertation: Out of the Shadows? Intelligence Sharing in the European Union
Chair: Desmond Dinan

Maurice Johnson 

Dissertation: Improving Health Outcomes by Addressing Social Determinants: Evidence from Medicaid’s Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) Program
Chair: Siona Listokin

Muhammad Salar Khan 

Dissertation: Absorptive Capacity and Economic Growth: How Does Absorptive Capacity Affect Economic Growth?
Co-Chairs: Jim Olds & David Hart

Lauren N. McCarthy  

Website | LinkedIn
Dissertation: Hacking the Bureaucracy: Micro-mobility and the policy process - policy-making in the age of the smart city
Chair: Jonathan Gifford

Neslihan McCorkel

Dissertation: Refugees and their Labor Market Integration: Three Essays on Factors Influencing Employment Outcomes in the Global South
Chair: Kenneth Reinert

Michael McCormick 

Dissertation: The Short-Term and Long-Term Effects of Hub Airport Abandonment
Chair: Jonathan Gifford

Daniel L. Ofori-Addo 

LinkedIn
Dissertation: An Empirical Assessment of Sub-Saharan African Mobile Phone Diffusion, Economic Growth, Per Capita Incomes, Poverty and Inequality
Chair: Kenneth Reinert

Emma Parker

Dissertation: The Increasing Securitization of US Foreign Assistance
Chair: Jim Pfiffner

Andrew Paterson

Dissertation: The Political Economy of Nuclear Energy: A Risk-based Framework for Policy Implementation
Chair: David Hart

Geoffrey Scott 

Dissertation: Determinates of Success: Institutional Design in Community-Based Natural Resource Management for Wildlife Conservation
Chair: Louise Shelley

Benjamin Shearn 

Dissertation: Identity Framing: How Indian Policymaker Identity Affects Threat Perception
Chair: Ed Rhodes

Jennifer Smith-Heys 

Dissertation: A Roadmap to Reform: Building a Theory of Intelligence Commissions
Chair: Jim Pfiffner

Sasithorn Supakienmongkol 

Dissertation: Mismatch Among Thai STEM Certificate Holders: Determinants and Consequences
Chair: David Hart