Hire Our Students 

Our graduate program emphasizes rigorous and pluralistic methodological training along with a solid education in every branch of political inquiry.

Find out more information about our students on the job market:

Igor Acácio, PhD

Email: iacacio@tulane.edu

Website: www.igoracacio.com/

Field of study:  Comparative Politics/International Relations

Dissertation title: The politics of military deployment for public security

Dissertation advisor: David Pion-Berlin

Books:

"Armed Forces in Public Security in Brazil: The military point of view." (with Celso Castro, Adriana Marques and Verônica Azzi). Rio de Janeiro: Editora FGV, 2023. Forthcoming.

“Atlas of Brazilian Defense Policy.” (with Maria Regina Soares de Lima, Carlos Milani, Rubens Duarte, Marianna Albuquerque et al.). Rio de Janeiro: CLACSO and Latitude Sul, 2017.

Articles & Book Chapters: 

"Military Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis in Latin America: Military Presence, Autonomy, and Human Rights Violations" (with David Pion Berlin and Anaís Passos). In: Armed Forces and Society, Early View. 

"The Trump Election and Attitudes toward the United States in Latin America". (with Miguel Carreras and Giancarlo Visconti). In: Public Opinion Quarterly, 85 (4), Early View. 

"Explaining Military Responses to Protests in Latin American Democracies". (with David Pion-Berlin). In: Comparative Politics, 52 (2): 2022. 

"The militarization of responses to Covid-19 in Democratic Latin America". (with Anaís Passos). In: Brazilian Journal of Public Administration (RAP). 55 (1): 261-271, 2021. 

"Back to Center Stage: Causes and Consequences of the Political Role of the Military under Bolsonaro". (with Octavio Amorim Neto). In: Journal of Democracy in Portuguese. 9(2): 1-29, 2020. 

"The Return of the Latin American Military". (with David Pion-Berlin). In: Journal of Democracy. 31 (4): 151-165, 2020. 

"Democratically Consolidated, Externally Threatened, and NATO Aligned: Finding Unexpected Deficiencies in Civilian Control". (with David Pion-Berlin and Andrew Ivey) In: Democratization 26 (6): 1070-1087, 2019. 

"Electoral Volatility in Latin America". (with Miguel Carreras). In: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latin American Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1684

"Presidential Term Limits as a Credible-Commitment Mechanism: The Case of Brazil’s Military". (with Octavio Amorim Neto).In: The Politics of Presidential Term Limits. Edited by Alex Baturo and Robert Elgie. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. 

Working Papers:

"The role of the Military roles in the response to natural disasters and pandemics". (with Anaís Passos). In: Pion-Berlin, David, Kuehn, David, and Aurel Croissant (Eds). Research Handbook of Civil-Military Relations. Elgar Edgar Publishers, 2023. Under review.

"Presidentialism and Civil-Military Relations: Brazil in Comparative Perspective". (with Octavio Amorim Neto). Book manuscript in preparation.

"Unintended Consequences: how security sector reform led to the militarization of public security in Latin America". (with Andrew Ivey). In preparation.

"The impact of domestic military deployment on favorability towards more deployments and coup favorability: Evidence from Brazil". (with Miguel Carreras and Giancarlo Visconti). In preparation.  

Awards:

2022-2023 Morgenthau J. Fellowship - University of Notre Dame, ND International Security Center 

2021 Dissertation Year Fellowship - University of California, Riverside

2020-21 IGCC Dissertation Fellowship - University of California, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) 

UC Riverside Departmental Award to attend the Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research (IQMR, Syracuse University), 2019

Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship, 2016-2022 - University of California, Riverside

Visiting Graduate Student Fellowship to attend the University of California, San Diego, 2015-2016 - The Fulbright Program

John Burnett

Email: John.Burnett@email.ucr.edu

Website: Johnbur.net

Field of study:  Mass Behavior/American Politics

Dissertation title: Sovereign Identity: Native American Identity and Political Behavior

Dissertation advisor: Kim Yi Dionne

Publications: 

Burnett, John; DeMora, Stephanie; Landgrave, Michelangelo; Lindke, Christian; Ninci, Adriana. “How Can We Address Professional Isolation Among Traditionally Underrepresented Students? The Importance of Peer Mentorship.” Journal of Political Science Education. 2022 (25):1-5.

Working Papers:

Burnett, John; Collingwood, Loren; Long, Sean; "Voting Reservations: Voter Turnout in Cherokee Elections."

Awards:

Eugene Cota Robles Award, 2016-2020

Carl A. Westerkamp American Indian Scholarship, 2013-2015

Stephanie L. DeMora, PhD 

Email: sdemo001@ucr.edu

Website: www.stephaniedemora.com

Field of study: Mass Behavior/American Politics

Dissertation title: Who Supports Her? The Conditions of Gender Specific Voting

Dissertation advisor: Jennifer Merolla & Loren Collingwood

Publications: 

DeMora, Stephanie L., Sarah Hayes, and Melissa R. Michelson. Motivating Black Turnout with Celebrations of Community. NYU Press. Forthcoming.

DeMora, Stephanie L., Melissa R. Michelson, Dari Tran. “Don’t Dismiss Digital Immigrants: Poll Workers and New Election Technologies” Election Law Journal. Forthcoming. 

DeMora, Stephanie L., Christian A. Lindke, Jennifer L. Merolla, & Laura B. Stephenson. “Ready for a Woman President? Polls, public comfort, and perceptions of electability in the 2020 Democratic nomination” Public Opinion Quarterly. 2022. 

Burnett, John, Stephanie L. DeMora, Michelangelo Landgrave, Christian A. Lindke, and Adriana Ninci. “How Can We Address Professional Isolation Among Traditionally Underrepresented Students? The Importance of Peer Mentorship” Journal of Political Science Education. 2022. 

DeMora, Stephanie L., Jennifer L. Merolla, Brian Newman and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister. “Reducing Mask Resistance with Value Consistent Messages: A Study of White Evangelical Christians” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2021. 

Scott, Jamil S., Melissa R. Michelson, & Stephanie L. DeMora. “Getting Out the Black Vote in Washington DC: A Field Experiment” Journal of Political Marketing. 2021. 

DeMora, Stephanie L. & Melissa Michelson. “Saving the Census: Citizenship & Willingness to Complete the Census” California Journal of Politics and Policy. 2021. 

Michelson, Melissa R., & Stephanie L. DeMora. “Making Activists out of Environmentalists: New Experimental Evidence” Environmental Politics. 2021. 

Newman, Benjamin J., Stephanie L. DeMora, and Tyler Reny. “Female Empowerment and the Politics of Language: Evidence Using Gender-Neutral Amendments to Subnational Constitutions” The British Journal of Political Science. 2020. 

DeMora, Stephanie L., Loren Collingwood, and Adriana Ninci. “The Role of Super Interest Groups in Public Policy Diffusion” Policy and Politics. 2019. 

Bawn, Kathleen, Stephanie L. DeMora, Andrew Dowdle, Spencer Hall, Mark Meyers, Shawn Patterson, and John Zaller. “Policy Voting in U.S. House Primaries” The Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties. 2019.

Scott, Jamil S., Melissa R. Michelson, & Stephanie L. DeMora. “Getting Out the Black Vote in Washington DC: A Field Experiment.” In Daniel E. Bergan & Bruce I. Newman (ed.) The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election: Democratic Norms and Group Perceptions. Routledge. Forthcoming. 

Collingwood, Loren, Stephanie L. DeMora, and Sean Long. “Race & Mobilization.” In Danny Osborne & Chris G. Sibley (ed.) The Cambridge Political Psychology Handbook. Cambridge. 2022.
 

Working Papers:

DeMora, Stephanie L., Sierra Graves, Christian Lindke, Sean Long, Maricruz Ariana Osorio, and Jennifer L. Merolla. “Emotional Engagement in the Year of the Woman” [Under Review] 

Michelson, Melissa R., LaShonda Carter, Stephanie L. DeMora, Sarah Hayes, Jasmine Jackson, and Marcruz A. Osorio. “Motivating Student Voter Registration” [Under Review]

DeMora, Stephanie L., Christian Lindke, Sean Long, Maricruz Ariana Osorio, and Jennifer L. Merolla. “Women and Political Ambition: Running for Us or Running for Me” [Under Review] · 

DeMora, Stephanie L., Jennifer L. Merolla, Brian Newman, and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister. “Partisan Pushback against Vaccine Messages: An Assessment of Republican Receptivity to Values-Consistent Messages from Political Sources” [Under Review]

DeMora, Stephanie L., Jennifer L. Merolla, Brian Newman, and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister. “Jesus was a Refugee: Assessing Messages Emphasizing Religious Values and Support for Refugees among Evangelical Christians” [Under Review] 

DeMora, Stephanie L., Christian Lindke, Maricruz Ariana Osorio, and Jennifer L. Merolla. “Gender & The Political Environment” Working. [Book Project]

Awards:

Black Politics Best Paper Award, Western Political Science Association - 2022 
Betty Nesvold Women & Politics Best Paper, Western Political Science Association - 2022 
Dissertation Year Program Fellowship, University of California, Riverside - 2021 
Summer Dissertation Writing Fellowship, UC Humanities Consortium - 2021 
Expy Award, Analyst Institute (with Melissa Michelson) - 2020 
Graduate Research Mentorship Program Fellowship, University of California, Riverside - 2020 
Humanities Graduate Student Research Award, Center for Ideas and Society - 2020 
Ernest Propes Graduate Fellowship, University of California, Riverside – 2018, 2019 
ICPSR Departmental Grant, University of California, Riverside - 2019 
Outstanding Teaching Award, University of California, Riverside - 2018 
Digital Research Methods Fellowship Award, University of California, Riverside - 2018 
Prestage-Cook Travel Award, Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting - 2018 
Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Award, University of California, Riverside - 2016 
Graduate Travel Grant, Fulbright College, University of Arkansas – 2013, 2014, 2015 
Deans Scholarship, Drexel University. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 2010, 2011 
Peter N. Ripa Scholarship, OSIA, Paulsboro, New Jersey - 2010 
Liberal Arts Scholarship, Gloucester County College. Sewell, New Jersey - 2009 
Presidents List & Deans List, Gloucester County College. Sewell, New Jersey - 2008 
Kalimat Language Institute Scholarship, U.S. Department of State. Cairo, Egypt - 2007

Justin Freebourn 

Email: justin.freebourn@gmail.com

Website: justinfreebourn.com

Field of study:  American Politics/Mass Behavior

Dissertation title: Fiscal Policy Preferences in the U.S. Context: Theory, measurement, and practice

Dissertation advisor: Jennifer Merolla

Publications: 

"Preferences for Single-party versus Multi-party Governments in the Mass Public” with Shaun Bowler, Todd Donovan, and Jack Vowles. 2022. Party Politics.

"The Power of Equality? Polarization and Collective Mis-representation on Gay Rights in Congress, 1989–2019” with Benjamin Bishin and Paul Teten. 2020. Political Research Quarterly.

"Constituent communication through telephone town halls: A field experiment involving members of Congress” with Claire Abernathy, Kevin Esterling, Ryan Kennedy, William Minozzi, Michael Neblo, and Jonathan Solis. Legislative Studies Quarterly.

Working Papers:

"Scientific Duty: On a socio-politico-technical model of ideology” submitted to Journal of Politics.

"Quantitative Textualism: A computational method and legal theory for drawing valid inferences from survey data” submitted to American Journal of Political Science.

“Towards an Integrative, Mathematical Model of Corporate Social Responsibility in Market-based Economic Systems” submitted to Academy of Management Perspectives.

“Policy Solidarity: Revisiting the Agrarian Theory of Justice” with Victoria Lam. Submitted to Academy of Management Perspectives.

Awards:

Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, 2018, 2022

Sean Long 

Email: slong008@ucr.edu

Website: https://seandlong.github.io/

Fields of Study: Mass Political Behavior, Political Theory

Dissertation Title: The Politics of White Violence

Dissertation Advisors: Loren Collingwood and Farah Godrej

Publications:

"White identity, Donald Trump, and the mobilization of extremism". 2022. Politics, Groups, and Identities, DOI: 10.1080/21565503.2022.2025868

"Demographic Change, White Decline, and the Changing Nature of Racial Politics in Election Campaigns" with Loren Collingwood and Stephanie DeMora. 2022.. In D. Osborne & C. Sibley (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Political Psychology (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 228-242). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

 "Can States Promote Minority Representation? Assessing the Effects of the California Voting Rights Act" with Loren Collingwood. 2021. Urban Affairs Review, Vol. 57(3) 731–762, DOI: 10.1177/1078087419896854

Working Papers:

"Whites Don’t Punish Politicians for Explicit Racial Appeals," with Charles Crabtree, Under Review

"Emotional Engagement in the Year of the Woman" with Stephanie DeMora, Christian Lindke, Jennifer Merolla, and Maricruz Osorio, Under Review

"Women and Political Ambition: Running for Us or Running for Me?" with Stephanie DeMora, Christian Lindke, Jennifer Merolla, and Maricruz Osorio, Under Review

Awards:

Graduate Student Mentorship Award, $6000: Dissertation related grant providing funding for one quarter to focus on research, UCR Political Science Department, Fall 2021

Graduate Student Research Award, $1500: Grant to field a survey experiment, UCR Political Science Department, Summer 2021

ICPSR Departmental Award: Funding to attend Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan, UCR Political Science Department, Summer 2020

Digital Humanities Fellowship: Funding to attend the Digital Humanities Summer Institute at the University of Victoria, UCR Graduate Quantitative Methods Center, Summer 2019

Nicholas T. Willis, PhD

Email: ntwillis15@gmail.com

Website: https://www.nicholastwillis.com/

Fields of Study: Comparative Politics, Political Theory

Dissertation Title: Pathways to Populism: Economics, Culture, and Ideological Convergence

Dissertation Advisors: Indriði H. Indriðason

Working Papers:

Willis, N. T. Ideological Convergence: Explaining Left and Right Populist Party Voter’s Behavior [Working Paper]. Department of Political Science, University of California - Riverside.

Indriðason, I. H. & Willis, N. T.  Competing with Allies (working title) [Working Paper]. Department of Political Science, University of California - Riverside.

Awards:

IQMR Departmental Award: Funding to attend the Institute for Qualitative & Multi-Method Research at Syracuse University, UCR Political Science Department, Summer 2020