Political Science

Recent International Field Research by Graduate Students

Stacey Pollard (ABD) is doing her field research in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon during the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 academic years.

International and Comparative alumna and MDA student Alicia Gonzales on a service project in Guatemala, 2005.

Melanie Kintz (ABD) is in Germany collecting data on the career patterns of German Bundestag members.

Fodei Batty (ABD) was in Sierra Leone and Liberia for two years gathering survey data and conducting focus groups for his dissertation project on post-civil war voting patterns. His research was partially supported by a Howard Wolpe African Studies Grant from the department and a Jennings Randolph Peace Fellowship from the United States Institute of Peace.

Courtney Buck (2008) interned with the Komaza NGO in Kalifi, Kenya in the summer of 2007, where (among other things) she researched the cultivation of jatropha.

Mihaiela Ristei (ABD) spent one year in Bucharest, Romania researching anti-corruption strategies. She was partially funded by a George Klein East European Studies Grant from the department.

Miguel Centellas (2007) conducted field research for ten months in Bolivia over the 2003-2004 academic year supported by a Fulbright grant. He researched the roots of democratic stability and instability.

From March to December 2004, Yazmine Watts (ABD) was in Senegal, also on a Fulbright grant, studying NGO activities in the area of women's health.

Jianfeng Wang (PhD 2005) conducted field research in Xian during the summer of 2004 on residents committees and their role in affecting local politics.

Ekaterina Levintova (PhD 2004) was the recipient of two American Council grants and one IREX grant that supported her research in Russia (9 months) and Poland (6 months) on how intellectuals influence both policy and public opinion. Levintova is now Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University / Texarkana.

Aparna Thomas (PhD 2004) spent a total of 14 months spread over two trips in India, most of it in the state of Maharashtra, working at the village level examining how the quota laws stipulating women's presence on local councils has affected gender relations. She was awarded the Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women in Politics for her work. Thomas is now Assistant Professor of Political Science and Women's Studies at Cornell College in Iowa.

Moataz Abdelfattah (PhD 2004) conducted field research in eight Middle Eastern countries in the course of conducting his dissertation research on Muslims' attitudes toward democracy. He did surveys, conducted focus groups, and interviewed Islamic scholars and intellectuals. Abdelfattah is Assistant Professor at Central Michigan University. He also maintains his position on the faculty of Cairo University.

Kiragu Wambuii (PhD 2004) conducted field research in Kenya for his dissertation on AIDS policy and democratization. Wambuii is currrently Assistant Professor at Southwest Missouri State University.

Sukhee Lee (PhD 2002) spent six months in his native South Korea in 2000 researching the roots of Korea's democratic transition in civil society activity in the 1970s and 1980s. He is now on the faculty of Dankook University, Seoul.

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