Doctoral Candidates & Research
Learn more about our PhD Candidates, including those who are actively searching for new opportunities on the job market.
All of these students have defended a dissertation proposal and advanced to candidacy. Many of our PhD candidates have published in leading journals, presented papers at conferences, and secured fellowships and awards. Feel free to contact the students, their advisors, or the Schar School for additional information.
Biodefense PhD Candidates
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
Political Science PhD Candidates
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
Public Policy PhD Candidates
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