Matt Golder
Matt is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Pennsylvania State University, the Director of the Honors Program in Political Science, and the Director of the Comparative Politics Program. He was previously the Director of Undergraduate Studies. He’s a first-generation high school graduate whose research focuses on political representation. In addition to numerous articles in journals such as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, the British Journal of Political Science, and Political Analysis, he has also published three books, Interaction Models: Specification and Interpretation (2023), Principles of Comparative Politics (Fourth Edition, 2024), and Foundations in Comparative Politics (Second Edition, 2024). He’s currently working on a fourth book, Interaction Approaches to Intersectionality Theory, which is under contract at Cambridge University Press. For more information, see his webpage and his Google Scholar profile.

Sona Golder
Sona is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Pennsylvania State University and holds a Professor II position at the University of Bergen in Norway. She studies political institutions, with a particular interest in coalition formation. In addition to numerous articles in journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, the British Journal of Political Science, Political Analysis, and Comparative Political Studies, she has also published four books, The Logic of Pre-Electoral Coalition Formation, Multi-level Electoral Politics, Principles of Comparative Politics, and Foundations of Comparative Politics. She’s currently working on a fifth book, Interaction Approaches to Intersectionality Theory, which is under contract at Cambridge University Press. Along with Raimondas Ibenskas, Allan Sikk, and Paulina Salek-Lipcean, she’s working on a project on Party Instability in Parliaments, or INSTAPARTY that’s funded by the Norwegian Research Council. For more information, see her webpage and her Google Scholar profile.

Ben Ferland
Ben is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa in Canada. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at McGill University in Canada. His research focuses on political behavior, electoral and partisan systems, and political representation. He’s particularly interested in political elites and public responsiveness. His research has been published in journals such as the European Journal of Political Research, Party Politics, West European Politics, Electoral Studies, and Politics & Gender. For more information, see his webpage and his Google Scholar profile.

Zeynep Özge Iğdır
Zeynep is currently a Research Assistant at Sabancı University in Turkey. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Sabancı University in Turkey. Her research focuses on pre-electoral coalitions and electoral behavior. For more information, see her LinkedIn profile.

Howard Liu
Howard is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina. His research focuses on state repression and political violence. Methodologically, he is interested in networks, spatial analysis, and automated text analysis. His research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Politics, International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Political Science Research & Methods. More information can be found at his webpage and on his Google Scholar profile.

Molly Ariotti
Molly works for the U.S. State Department. She previously served as the Director for Coastal West Africa on the National Security Council in the White House. Before that she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Affairs at the University of Georgia. She received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Penn State and was a Boren Fellow in Senegal. Her research focuses on political institutions in African democracies, with an emphasis on Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Francophone Africa. Her research has appeared in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Analysis, Electoral Studies, and the Review of International Organizations. For more information, see her webpage, her LinkedIn profile, and her Google Scholar profile.

Charles Crabtree
Charles is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University in Australia, a K-Club Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Korea University, and a Visiting Associate Professor in the Faculty of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University. He was formerly an Assistant Professor, Director of the Honors Program, and Founder of the Baltic LEAP foreign studies program in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College, where he was also affiliated with the Department of Eastern European, Eurasian, and Russian Studies, the Department of Sociology, the Program in Quantitative Social Science, and the Program in Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. Charles has also been a Senior Data Scientist and Senior Fellow at the Tokyo Foundation in Japan and a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan. His substantive research focuses on discrimination, while his methodological research uses field and survey experiments, as well as artificial intelligence methods. His research has been published in journals such as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, the British Journal of Political Science, Political Analysis, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Nature Human Behavior. For more information, see his webpage and his Google Scholar profile.

Yaoyao Dai
Yaoyao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh. She was formerly an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at UNC Charlotte and a post-doctoral associate in the Social Science Division at New York University Abu Dhabi. She received a dual-title Ph.D. in Political Science and Asian Studies from Penn State. Her substantive research interests include authoritarian politics, populism, and information manipulation. Her methodological research focuses on computational social science, quantitative text analysis, measurement, and experiments. She has published one book, Wolf Warrior Diplomacy and China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: From Policy to Podium, as well as articles in journals such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Political Communication, and Political Science Research & Methods. For more information, see her webpage and her Google Scholar profile.

Kostanca Dhima
Kostanca is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Georgia State University and a Faculty Affiliate at the Institute for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Political Science from Texas A&M University. Her substantive research focuses on political representation, especially as it relates to gender and race. Methodologically, she’s interested in research design, quantitative methods, and experiments. Her research has been published in journals such as Politics & Gender, Political Behavior, Electoral Studies, Politics and Religion, and Representation. For more information, see her webpage and her Google Scholar profile.

Lingyu ‘Jack’ Fuca
Jack is a Ph.D. student in political science at Penn State. His research agenda focuses on estimating causal effects in complex social networks. Methodologically, he studies causal inference, social network analysis, machine learning, and formal theory. He recently won the Political Science Department’s Best MA Thesis Award for his paper, “Addressing Endogeneity in Political Data,” which uses copula models to diagnose and address statistical shortcomings for uncovering causal patterns in observational data.

Jinhyuk Jang
Jinhyuk is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Dankook University in Korea. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Political Science from Penn State. His substantive research focuses on executive-legislative relations, with a special emphasis on government formation in Asia-Pacific democracies. His research has been published in journals such as Party Politics, the Japanese Journal of Political Science, the Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, and PS: Political Science and Politics. For more information, see his webpage.

Boyoon Lee
Boyoon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University in Canada. She was previously a postdoctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University’s Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) Lab. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Penn State. Her substantive research focuses on the politics of immigration in a non-Western context, with a particular emphasis on public opinion and the political economy of migration. Methodologically, she employs different types of experiments and causal inference methods for observational data. Her research has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Politics and Environmental Research Letters. For more information, see her webpage and her Google Scholar profile.

Lillian Aronson
Lillian was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on a project looking at governments in non-presidential democracies and on a project looking at immigrant political power and populism in Europe. She was a Schreyer Honors student who graduated with a major in Political Science and a Masters in International Affairs from Penn State. She is currently a Research Assistant to the president’s team at the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs and a Visiting Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation on the Middle East. You can find more information about her on LinkedIn.

Christine Burns
Christine was a member of the CP Group and worked as a teaching assistant for PLSC 3: Comparing Politics around the Globe. She graduated with a double major in International Politics and Psychology from Penn State. She is currently a Government Research Intern at Syncurrent. You can find more information about her on LinkedIn.

Dina Castillo
Dina was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on the Democratic Electoral Systems (DES) dataset project. She graduated with a double major in Political Science and Philosophy from Penn State. She is currently a PRIDE Healthy Relationships Coordinator/Public Speaker for the Center for Family Services in New Jersey. You can find more information about her on LinkedIn.

Emma Cohen
Emma was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on a book project related to interaction models and a project looking at immigrant political power and populism in Europe. She was a Schreyer Honors student who graduated with a double major in Political Science and Economics and a minor in Statistics from Penn State. Her honors thesis was titled, “Seat Security and Tweet Extremism: An Analysis of Congress Members’ Tweets.” She is currently a Senior Consultant at Bates White Economic Consulting. You can find more information about her on LinkedIn.

Olivia Davis-Ryan
Olivia was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on a project looking at gender and governmental ministerial positions within the Asia-Pacific region. She graduated with a major in Political Science from Penn State where she was also a member of the Varsity Women’s Tennis Team. She is currently an MPA student at Georgia Southern University.

Amita Diarra
Amita was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on a project looking at government coalitions in Africa. She was a Schreyer Honors student who graduated as the Commencement Marshal for Political Science with a major in Political Science and minors in both Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and French and Francophone Studies at Penn State. She is currently a graduate student in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University.

Jennifer Heckman
Jennifer was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on a project looking at women’s political representation in Africa. She was a Schreyer Honors student who graduated with a major in International Politics from Penn State. She presented her honors thesis, Women’s Legislative Representation in Africa, at the Midwest Political Science Association Meeting.

Luisina Kemanian-Leites
Luisina was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on the Democratic Electoral Systems (DES) dataset project. She was a Schreyer Honors student who graduated with a double major in International Politics and Latin American Studies from Penn State. She is a Fulbright Scholar (Colombia) and a Rhodes Finalist. Her honors thesis, “A Solution to ‘The Problem from Hell’?: Quantifying the Effects of International Military Interventions During Mass Killings and Genocides,” won the Paterno Fellows Best Thesis in the Social Sciences. She is currently a J.D. Candidate at Harvard. You can find more information about her on LinkedIn.

Jed Laskoff
Jed is a member of the CP Group working as a teaching assistant for PLSC 3: Comparing Politics around the Globe. He is currently an undergraduate student at Penn State doing a major in Political Science and a minor in Sociology. He plans to attend law school. You can find more information about him on LinkedIn.

Saxtyn Lutz
Saxtyn was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on the Democratic Electoral Systems (DES) dataset project. She’s currently an undergraduate student majoring in Political Science at Penn State.

Yael Macon
Yael was a member of the CP Group and worked as a teaching assistant for PLSC 3: Comparing Politics around the Globe. She graduated with a major in International Politics and a minor in Psychology from Penn State. You can find more information about her on LinkedIn.

Dan Nguyen
Dan was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on a project looking at gender and governmental ministerial positions within the Asia-Pacific region. He graduated with a major in Political Science and a minor in Economics from Penn State. He is currently a Research Analyst at the PA House Democratic Caucus. You can find more information about him on LinkedIn.

Christiana Nisbet
Christiana was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on a project looking at ministerial portfolio allocation in Africa. She graduated with a major in Political Science and a minor in Anthropology from Penn State. After graduating, she started working for the federal government.

Caroline Peters
Caroline was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on a project looking at government formation. She graduated with a major in Political Science from Penn State. She is currently a J.D. Candidate at The George Washington University Law School. You can find more information about her on LinkedIn.

Noah Speitel
Noah was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on a project related to government formation. He was a Schreyer Honors student who graduated with a double major in Political Science and Education and Public Policy from Penn State. His honors thesis was titled, “Modern School Segregation: Local Factors Contributing to Racially Segregated School Districts.” He is currently an associate at Reed Smith LLP working in the Global Commercial Disputes practice group. You can find more information about him on LinkedIn.

Madeline Shanafelt
Maddie was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on the Democratic Electoral Systems (DES) dataset project and a project looking at government formation. She is a Schreyer Honors student who is completing a BA in Political Science and an MA in Educational Theory and Policy at Penn State. You can find more information about her on LinkedIn.

Julia Welp
Julia was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on the Democratic Electoral Systems (DES) dataset project. She was a Schreyer Honors student who graduated with a triple major in Political Science, History, and Middle Eastern Studies from Penn State. Her honors thesis was titled, “From Ur to Masada: Antiquities Policy and State Building in Palestine/Israel and Iraq, 1919-1950.” She is currently a graduate student in the Department of History at George Washington University with an interest in the political and cultural history of the modern Middle East. You can find more information about her on LinkedIn.

Katerina Yankanich
Katerina was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on the Democratic Electoral Systems (DES) dataset project and a project looking at immigrant political power and populism in Europe. She was a Schreyer Honors student who graduated with a double major in Political Science and History from Penn State. Her honors thesis was titled, “Mitigating Climate Change: Determinants of Willingness to Pay.” She is currently a graduate student in the Department of History at George Washington University. You can find more information about her on LinkedIn.

Steven Zhang
Steven was an undergraduate researcher in the CP Group working on a project looking at women’s participation in governments in Asia. He was a Schreyer Honors student who graduated with a double major in International Politics and Economics, as well as a Masters of International Affairs in International Public Policy from Penn State. His honors thesis was titled, “Investigating the Effects of Empathy and News Readership on Affective Polarization.” He is currently a Senior Consultant at Guidance, a business consulting firm. You can find more information about him on LinkedIn.