Penn State Penn State: College of the Liberal Arts

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 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
Post-doc, Northwestern University
Post-doc, Northwestern University
Comparative Politics/Social Data Analytics
Boyoon Lee
Post-doc, Vanderbilt
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
Unknown
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
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

Graduation Year 2017

Name
Current Placement
Initial Placement
Specialization
Christopher Boylan
Data Scientist, Verisk Maplecroft Company (Dublin)
Data Scientist, Verisk Maplecroft Company (Dublin)
Comparative Politics/Political Methodology
Michael Kenwick
Assistant Professor, Rutgers University
Post-doc, University of Pennsylvania
International Relations/Political Methodology
Zachary Jones
Senior Analyst, University of Washington
Post-doc, University of Washington
International Relations/Political Methodology
Josh Semat
Senior Business Analyst, MITRE Corporation
Visiting Assistant Professor, George Mason University
American Politics/Comparative Politics
Eleanor Schiff
Teaching Assistant Professor, Penn State
Visiting Assistant Professor, Dickinson College
American Politics/Comparative Politics