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 2025
Name | Current Placement | Initial Placement | Specialization |
|---|---|---|---|
Tuba Sendinc | International Relations/Political Methodology | ||
Nathaniel Flemming | Institutional Research Analyst, University of Rochester | Institutional Research Analyst, University of Rochester | American Politics/Social Data Analytics |
Angel Villlegas Cruz | Institutional Research Analyst, University of Rochester | Institutional Research Analyst, University of Rochester | International Relations/Asian Studies |
Graduation Year 2024
Name | Current Placement | Initial Placement | Specialization |
|---|---|---|---|
Michael Burnham | Assistant Professor, Texas A&M | 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 Jang | Assistant Professor, Dankook University | 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 |