You are here: American University School of Public Affairs PhD Programs Current Doctoral Students

SPA's PhD curriculum is designed to provide doctoral students with the skills to effect immediate impact.

With expertise spanning public management, global health governance, regulatory policy and more, our PhD candidates bring the research tools and academic rigor to advance scholarship in their respective fields and educate the next generation of public affairs leaders.

Public Administration PhD Students

Kristen Allen

Kristen Allen is a current PhD student in Public Policy and Administration at American University. Her research interests include accountability in higher education, student outcomes in the labor mark

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Michele Aquino

Michele is a PhD candidate in the Department of Public Administration & Policy. He focuses on policy analysis, especially related to the natural environment and climate-related issues. His research cu

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Chris Campbell

Chris Campbell is a PhD candidate in the Department of Public Administration and Policy and a Research Assistant at the Metropolitan Policy Center. He specializes in state and local housing policy and

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Georgina Cisneros

Georgina is a current PhD student in Public Policy and Administration at American University. Her research interests include poverty, childhood wellbeing, and the evaluation of social programs for low

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Kathryn Grossman Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Kathryn is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Public Administration and Policy. Her research interests include public and nonprofit management and education policy. She is a qualitative researc

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Jaleesa Hall Adjunct Instructor SPA | Public Administration

Jaleesa Hall is a current PhD student in Public Policy and Administration at American University. Her research interests include nonprofit emergence and evolution, organizational governance, and entre

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Christopher Johnston

Chris is a PhD student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy. His research focus is on the interface between education policy and labor economics. Before starting his PhD, he worked in

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Sangwon Ju

Sangwon Ju is a PhD student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University. His research interests include public management, organizational theory and behavior, behavior

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Madeleine Maylath

Madeleine is a doctoral student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy. Her research focuses on the social safety net in the United States.

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Grant Mobley

Grant Mobley (he/him) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University. His research interests include public management, behavioral public administratio

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Tingli Qu Adjunct Instructor SPA | Public Administration

Tingli Qu is a current PhD student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University. Her research interests include public finance, fiscal performance, fiscal transparency

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Jesus Sanchez

Jesus Sanchez is a PhD student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy. He is interested in education policy, with a focus on higher education finance and affordability. He has previousl

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Ashley Scott

Ashley Scott (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University. Her research focuses on urban economics, with particular focus on how education

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Ankita Singh

Ankita is a current PhD student in Public Policy and Administration at American University. Her research interests include environmental and social sustainability in the supply chains. She previously

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Corbin Walls

Corbin is a public management scholar who is passionate about the effectiveness and accountability of the public services delivered by nonprofit organizations. His work explores the complex dynamics b

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Political Science PhD Students

Ali Amini

Ali Amini is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the School of Public Affairs, American University. His research focuses on political psychology and political methodology. He develops and applie

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Evyn Anderson

Evyn is a PhD student at American University with a concentration in American Politics.  She is interested in gender equity and specifically how gender equity at home impacts parity in larger social,

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Abdullah Atalan

Abdullah is a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a faculty fellow in the Center for Data Science at American University. He completed his PhD in Poli

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Bryan Bayne

Bryan is a PhD student specializing in comparative politics and political methodology. His research interests lie in climate and environmental politics.

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Mehmet Yasin Bozkus

Yasin is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Government, specializing in comparative politics and political methodology. His research focuses on the politics of nationalism and ethnicity, ethnic conf

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Ehsan Habibpour Moghaddam

Ehsan is a PhD student specializing in comparative politics and political methodology. He is a Graduate Fellow at the Center for Data Science in the School of Public Affairs. His research interests sp

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Rafsanul Hoque

Rafsanul Hoque is a PhD candidate at American University. His academic interest is in comparative politics, with a focus on public opinion, citizens’ political attitudes and behavior, political commun

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Ellen Kamalyan

Ellen Kamalyan is a Ph.D. Candidate at American University. Her studies are at the intersection of Comparative and American Politics, with a mixed-methods approach that includes original survey experi

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Gabriel Kelly

Gabriel C. Kelly is a Political Science PhD student, majoring in Comparative Politics, whose research focuses on preference falsification and civil society in post-communist Europe and Eurasia. He has

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Aditya Kumar

Aditya is a Doctoral student at the Department of Government and specializes in Comparative Politics and Political Methodology. His primary research interests involve the examining the impact of welfa

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Megan Kurten Adjunct Instructor SPA | Government

Megan Kurten is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Government and a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Politics. Her research domain is political violence, particularly the relationships and intera

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Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer is a PhD candidate at American University. She studies American politics with a concentration in racial and ethnic politics, specifically the political behavior of Latinos in the United State

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Kristen Munnelly

Kristen is a fourth year doctoral student in the political science program. She is interested in how philanthropy affects policy in the United States and beyond, as well as media coverage of this and

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Lilyana Pan

Lilyana is a Ph.D student at American University. Her research focuses on American politics, LGBTQ+ politics and public opinion, prejudice reduction, attitude change, and political psychology.

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Cindy Ragab Adjunct Instructor SPA | Finance & Personnel Administration

Cindy Ragab is a PhD candidate at American University. She studies comparative politics with a focus on the nexus of governance, the political economy of development, climate and conflict resolution.

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Wali Reheman Adjunct Instructor SPA | Finance & Personnel Administration

Wali Reheman is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Government at American University. He studies comparative politics and political methodology with a concentration on ethnic and religious identity

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Riley Van Steenburg

Riley Van Steenburg is a Ph.D. student with a focus on Political Methodologies and American Politics. Her research interests include LGBTQ+ politics and policy.

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Qingya Xu

Rita Qingya Xu is Ph.D. student at American University. She studies Comparative Politics and American Politics with focuses on political communication and public opinions, particularly on social media

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Xinyuan Yang

Xinyuan is a PhD student in Political Science. She studies political methodology and comparative politics. Her research interests include using Bayesian method to study public opinion and political be

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Justice, Law & Criminology PhD Students

Hassana Arbubakrr

Hassana Arbubakrr is a 1st Year PhD student in Justice, Law and Criminology. Her research interests consist of aspects of the criminal legal system and black neurodivergence.

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William Arnold Adjunct Instructor SPA | Justice, Law & Criminology

William Arnold is a PhD student in the department of Justice, Law and Criminology at American University. He is interested in questions concerning the formation, interpersonal dynamics, and linguistic

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Elizabeth Carlisle

Elizabeth C. Carlisle is a doctoral student in the Department of Justice, Law & Criminology in the School of Public Affairs. In 2020, she received three Bachelor of Arts degrees in Criminology, Law &

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Kaitlyn Davisio

Kaitlyn DaVisio is a doctoral student in the Department of Justice, Law, and Criminology in the School of Public Affairs. She is also a Research Associate with the Polarization and Extremism Research

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Gabriela Gómez Mantilla

Gabriela is a doctoral student in the Department of Justice, Law, and Criminology at the School of Public Affairs. Her research focuses on military approaches to counterterrorism, legal discourses, th

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Eliza Jackson

Eliza Lee "Ellee" Jackson is a PhD student in the department of Justice, Law, and Criminology. Her research interests include corrections, translational criminology, and public perceptions of punishme

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Kevin Lopez

Kevin P. Lopez is a doctoral student in the department of Justice, Law, and Criminology in the School of Public Affair. His research interests include the intersection of online behaviors and offline

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Ashley Schroeder

Ashley Schroeder is a PhD student in the Department of Justice, Law, and Criminology in the School of Public Affairs.Her research interests include women in policing, police culture, alternative respo

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Moriah Sharpe

Moriah Sharpe is a doctoral student in Justice, Law, and Criminology. She is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of North Carolina and

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Joseph Stabile

Joseph Stabile is a doctoral student in the Department of Justice, Law & Criminology at American University's School of Public Affairs.His research interests include the organizational dynamics of whi

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Jennifer West Senior Researcher SPA | PERIL Institute

JJ West (she/her) is a doctoral student at American University in the Department of Justice, Law & Criminology. Her research interests include incels, right-wing extremism, male supremacy, and support

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Rachel Williams

Rachel A. Williams is a doctoral student in the Department of Justice, Law & Criminology at the School of Public Affairs. Her research interests focus on the study of religious extremism. In 2018, she

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