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Ph.D. Placement

Ph.D. Placement

Penn State’s Political Science Ph.D. students receive academic appointments at some of the top schools in the U.S., and take private sector positions in research, technology, security, and more:

Graduation Year 2024

Name
Current Placement
Initial Placement
Specialization
Michael Burnham
Post-doc, Princeton University
Post-doc, Princeton University
American Politics/Social Data Analytics
Nathan Morse
Statistician, US Census Bureau
Statistician, US Census Bureau
American Politics/Political Methodology
Ilayda Onder
Assistant Professor, Texas A&M
Assistant Professor, Texas A&M
International Relations/Political Methodology

Graduation Year 2023

Name
Current Placement
Initial Placement
Specialization
Chase Bloch
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, New Zealand
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, New Zealand
International Relations/Social Data Analytics
Muhammed Cifci
Ntrepid
Ntrepid
International Relations/Social Data Analytics
Ishita Gopal
Post-doc, Washington University
Post-doc, Washington University
Comparative Politics/Social Data Analytics
Nguyen Huynh
Assistant Professor, Hitotsubashi University
Assistant Professor, Hitotsubashi University
International Relations/Political Methodology
Megan Kennedy
Visiting Assistant Professor, St. Olaf College
Visiting Assistant Professor, St. Olaf College
American Politics/Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Sangyeon Kim
Post-doc, Indiana University
Post-doc, Indiana University
International Relations/Social Data Analytics
Jia Li
Assistant Professor, Utah State
Assistant Professor, Utah State
Comparative Politics/Political Methodology
Kellan Ritter
U.S. Air Force
U.S. Air Force
International Relations/Political Methodology
Caner Simsek
Post-doc, University of Munster
Post-doc, University of Munster
Comparative Politics/Social Data Analytics
Seth Warner
Assistant Professor, University of North Florida
Assistant Professor, University of North Florida
American Politics/Political Methodology
Christopher Willis
Post-doc, Lehigh University
Post-doc, Lehigh University
International Relations/Comparative Politics

Graduation Year 2022

Name
Current Placement
Initial Placement
Specialization
Samuel Bestvater
Data scientist, Pew Research Center
Data scientist, Pew Research Center
Comparative Politics, Social Data Analytics
Brandon Bolte
Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Springfiled
Post-doc, Penn State
International Relations/Political Methodology
Jinhyuk (Timothy) Jang
Post-doc, Kochi University of Technology, Japan
Post-doc, Kochi University of Technology, Japan
Comparative Politics/Political Methodology
Mikaela Karstens
Post-doc, Penn State Erie, the Behrend College
Post-doc, Penn State Erie, the Behrend College
International Relations/Political Methodology
Taegyoon Kim
Assistant Professor, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology,
Post-doc, Northwestern University
Comparative Politics/Social Data Analytics
Boyoon Lee
Assistant Professor, Queens University
Post-doc, Vanderbilt
Comparative Politics/Political Methodology
Min (Rosemary) Pang
Lecturer position, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Lecturer position, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Comparative Politics/Social Data Analytics
Michael Soules
Assistant Professor, University of Houston
Beall Defense Fellowship, Naval Post-Graduate School
International Relations/Comparative Politics

Graduation Year 2021

Name
Current Placement
Initial Placement
Specialization
Qing Deng
Research and Evaluation Specialist, Santa Clara County Probation Department
Part-time instructor, Penn State
Comparative Politics/International Relations
Joseph Phillips
Post-doc, University of Kent, UK
Post-doc, Exeter
American Politics/Political Methodology
Aubrey Waddick
Policy Analyst for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
Research Analyst, Maryland Independent College and University Associate
International Relations/Asian Studies
Omer Yalcin
Lecturer position, Data Analytics and Computational Social Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Lecturer position, Data Analytics and Computational Social Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Comparative Politics/Social Data Analytics

Graduation Year 2020

Name
Current Placement
Initial Placement
Specialization
Nicholas Dietrich
Assistant Professor, Ohio Wesleyan
Visiting Assistant Professor, Ohio Wesleyan
International Relations/Political Methodology
Markus Neumann
Assistant Professor, Duke Kunshan University
Post-doc, Wesleyan University
American Politics/Social Data Analytics

Graduation Year 2019

Name
Current Placement
Initial Placement
Specialization
Bryan Arva
Lecturer position, American University
Research Assistant, University of Maryland
International Relations, Political Methodology
Ted Chen
Assistant Professor, George Mason University
Post-Doc, University of Helsinki and Aalto University
International Relations, Political Methodology
Yaoyao Dai
Assistant Professor, Univ. of North Carolina-Charlotte
Post-doc, New York University – Abu Dhabi
Comparative Politics/Asian Studies
Matthew Denny
Research Scientist, Facebook Core Data Science
Research Scientist, Facebook Core Data Science
American Politics/Social Data Analytics
MinHyung (Minnie) Joo
Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts-Lowell
Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts-Lowell
International Relations/Political Methodology
Chuyu Liu
Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam
Post-doc, Johns Hopkins University
International Relations/Political Methodology
John Schoeneman
Visiting Assistant Professor and Research Consultant, Oklahoma State University
Visiting Assistant Professor and Research Consultant, Oklahoma State University
International Relations/Social Data Analytics
Zhanna Terechshenko
Research Scientist, TikTok
Post-Doc at New York University
International Relations, Social Data Analytics
Xu Xu
Assistant Professor, Princeton University
Assistant Professor, Princeton University
Comparative Politics/International Relations

Graduation Year 2018

Name
Current Placement
Initial Placement
Specialization
Margaret Ariotti
US Department of State’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (African Affairs)
Assistant Professor, University of Georgia
Comparative Politics/Political Methodology
Amanda Fidalgo
Social Scientist, FDA
Assistant Professor, New College of Florida
Comparative Politics/American Politics
Fridolin Linder
Data Scientist, Meta
Post-doc, New York University
Political Methodology/Comparative Politics
Ryan McMahon
Data Scientist, Google
Verisk Maplecroft Company
Political Methodology/American Politics
Kevin Reuning
Assistant Professor, Miami University (Ohio)
Assistant Professor, Miami University (Ohio)
American Politics/Political Methodology
Wonjun Song
Assistant Professor, Hanyang University, South Korea
Post-doc, Penn State
International Relations/Comparative Politics
Anne Whitesell
Assistant Professor, Miami University of Ohio
Assistant Professor, Ohio Northern University
American Politics/Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies