The American Political Science Association is pleased to announce the Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant (DDRIG) Awardees for 2023 The APSA DDRIG program provides support to enhance and improve the conduct of doctoral dissertation research in political science. Awards support basic research which is theoretically derived and empirically oriented.

• Suhyen Bae, Duke University
• Clara Bicalho, University of California, Berkeley
• Aaron Christensen, Columbia University
• Sofia Elverdin, Yale University
• Bo Feng, Boston University
• Hanna Folsz, Stanford University
• Gustavo Guajardo, Rice University
• Yifan Flora He, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Minhye Joo, University of California, Riverside
• Dahjin Kim, Washington University in St. Louis
• Da In Diana Lee, Columbia University
• Jacob Lollis, University of Virginia
• Laura Lopez Perez, University of Notre Dame
• Mary McLoughlin, Syracuse University
• Preeti Nambiar, Vanderbilt University
• Jieun Park, University of California, Los Angeles
• RyuGyung Rio Park, University of California, Davis
• Melissa Pavlik, Yale University
• Ishana Ratan, University of California, Berkeley
• Andrew Roskos-Ewoldsen, University of California, Davis
• Oren Samet, University of California, Berkeley
• Daniel Smith, Ohio State University
• Sedef Topal, Washington State University
• Ye Zhang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Suhyen Bae is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Duke University. Before Duke, Suhyen graduated with an M.A. and Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from Seoul National University.

Clara Bicalho is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to graduate school, Clara worked as a predoctoral fellow at the Institutions and Political Inequality unit at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) and as a research assistant at NYU’s Center for Technology and Economic Development. She holds bachelor’s degrees in political science and in Arab Crossroads Studies from NYU Abu Dhabi.

Aaron Christensen is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. Prior to his PhD work, he received a B.A. in International and Area Studies from Washington University in St Louis.

Sofia Elverdin is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at Yale University. Sofia holds an M.A. and a B.A. in Political Science from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. Prior to Yale, she was a fellow at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in Argentina.

Bo Feng is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Boston University. Before joining Boston University, he received a B.S. in Pharmacy from China Pharmaceutical University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Fudan University, China.

Hanna Folsz is a PhD candidate at Stanford University. She completed a B.A. in Economics and Politics at Durham University and an MSc in Political Science and Political Economy at the London School of Economics.

Gustavo Guajardo is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Rice University. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City and an M.A. in Political Science from Rice University.

Yifan (Flora) He is a PhD candidate at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara. Before joining UCSB, Flora worked as a social scientist at Conservation International from 2018 to 2020, where she studied the diversity and dynamics of global area-based conservation governance systems. She received a Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Hong Kong in 2015 and a Master of Science in conservation ecology and environmental informatics from the University of Michigan in 2017.

Minhye Joo is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Riverside. In addition to the APSA DDRIG, Minhye’s dissertation project is supported by the Dissertation Research Grants from the Russell Sage Foundation.

Dahjin Kim is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to the APSA-DDRIG, her research has received generous support from the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis.  Prior to her PhD program, Dahjin graduated with a B.A. and an M.A. in Political Science from Seoul National University in South Korea.

Diana Da In Lee is a PhD candidate at Columbia University. She received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and a Master’s degree from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.

Jacob Lollis is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of Virginia. Before attending the University of Virginia, Jacob earned a B.A. in Politics and International Affairs with a minor in Poverty Studies from Furman University.

Laura López-Pérez is a PhD candidate at the University of Notre Dame and a member of the Violence and Transitional Justice Lab. She received her bachelor’s degree from the I nstituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO) and her master’s degree from the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO).

Mary McLoughlin is a PhD candidate in political science at Syracuse University. Mary holds an M.A. in political science from Syracuse University and B.A. in English Literature and Human Rights Studies from the University of Dayton. In addition to the APSA DDRIG, Mary’s work is supported by funding from Syracuse University’s Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs.

Preeti Nambiar is a PhD candidate in political science in Vanderbilt University. Her research is supported by the APSA, Vanderbilt Graduate School of Arts and Science, Latin American Public Opinion Project, the Vanderbilt Department of Political Science and the Robert Penn Warren Center. Prior to Vanderbilt, Preeti worked in private equity investing in New York, London, Singapore and Mumbai, with a special focus on developing countries. She served as founding director for a not-for-profit advisory practice that fostered enterprise and equity in education in India. Preeti holds a Master’s degree in International Economics (Bocconi University), an MSc Financial Engineering (Carnegie Mellon University and Nanyang Technological University) and a Bachelor’s degree (Delhi University).

RyuGyung (Rio) Park is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Davis. Before joining UC Davis, Rio received a B.A. in International Relations (College of Liberal Studies) and an M.P.P. from Seoul National University.

Jieun Park is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at UCLA. In addition to the APSA DDRIG, Jieun’s research is supported by the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate (ISH) Research Innovation Fund and the Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies. Prior to UCLA, she worked as a researcher at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy and the Association of World Election Bodies. She holds a master’s degree in International Relations from Seoul National University and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the Australian National University.

Melissa Pavlik is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Yale University. Before her PhD, Melissa worked for years as a conflict data analyst and research fellow. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from University of Chicago and a Master’s degree in War Studies from King’s College London.

Ishana Ratan is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a BA in International Relations and Economics from the University of Georgia.

Andrew Roskos-Ewoldsen is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science and the University of California, Davis. He received a bachelor’s in international studies from Rhodes College and a master’s in international studies from Seoul National University.

Oren Samet is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. Before beginning his Ph.D., Oren was based in Bangkok, Thailand, and worked in the field of international human rights. There, he served as the Research and Advocacy Director of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, working with politicians and civil society leaders across Southeast Asia. He previously worked as a Junior Fellow in the Democracy and Rule of Law Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and holds a B.A. from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.

Daniel Smith is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Ohio State University. He holds a BA in Foreign Affairs and a MA in Comparative Politics from the University of Virginia. Prior to joining the doctoral program at Ohio State, he worked at the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START).

Sedef Topal is a PhD candidate at Washington State University. She holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Szeged, Hungary, as a fellowship recipient of European Union Trans-European Mobility Program for Graduate Education.

Ye Zhang is a PhD candidate in political science at MIT. Previously, Ye was a ChinaFile Research Fellow at Asia Society, New York. She received an MA in Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences (QMSS) from Columbia University, an MSc in Government and Politics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a BSc in Greater China Studies from The Education University of Hong Kong.