Michele Aquino
Michele is a PhD student in the Department of Public Administration & Policy. He focuses on policy analysis, especially related to the natural environment. Primary research interests include the polit…
Contact Us
Kerwin Hall, Room 306 on a map
SPA: Graduate Admissions 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, DC 20016 United StatesPublic Administration PhD Students
Christopher Burks Adjunct Instructor
Christopher Tyler Burks (he/him) is on the job market as a PhD candidate and Charles Levine Doctoral Research Fellow in public administration and policy at American University. Chris serves as an Adju…
Michelle Castleberry
Neko Michelle Castleberry is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University. Her research interests include policies regarding sexual and reproductiv…
Tianyu Chen Adjunct Instructor
Tianyu is a PhD candidate in the Department of Public Administration & Policy and a fellow at the Center for Data Science of the School of Public Affairs. His research interests include public and non…
Sarah Chung
Sarah Chung is a PhD student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of environmental, health, and education policy…
James Ellis Associate Dean, Undergraduate Education Provost, Office of the
Jimmy Ellis (he/him/his) is the Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education. He joined AU in 2011 and leads programmatic, administrative, and curricular assessment for the department, including the livi…
Katherine Engel
Katie is a PhD student in the Department of Public Administration & Policy. Her research interests include health equity and food policy. Prior to her doctoral studies, Katie worked as Director of Pro…
Kathryn Grossman
Kathryn is a doctoral student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy. Her research interests include public and nonprofit management and education policy. She is a qualitative research …
Jessica Horst Adjunct Instructor
Jessica is a PhD student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy. Her research interests include early childhood education (ECE), ECE labor markets, and education policy. Prior to her do…
Kathryn Johnson
Kathryn is a PhD student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University. Her research interests include environmental, health, and technology policy.
Minjung Kim Adjunct Instructor
Minjung Kim is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University. Her research interests include public and nonprofit management, civic engagement, phil…
Laura McMahon Fulford
Laura is a doctoral student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy. Her research interests include how agencies are impacted by external influences, bureaucratic discretion, state & loc…
Sarah Nielsen
Sarah is a PhD student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy and a Charles Levine Doctoral Research Fellow. Her research interests include cross-sector collaboration, refugee and immig…
Joohyung Park Adjunct Instructor
Joohyung Park is a PhD candidate in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University. His research interests include bureaucracy and democracy, public management, bureaucratic…
William Prince
Will is a PhD student and Charles Levine Doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Public Administration and Policy in the School of Public Affairs. His research interests revolve around public ma…
Alexandra Rakus Adjunct Instructor
Alexandra Rakus is a doctoral student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy with a concentration in public policy. Her research interests are within health policy broadly and include o…
Lilli Shaffer Adjunct Instructor
Lilliandra's primary area of study is in nonprofit organizations, specifically foundations. She is also interested in public administration theory and philosophy. Prior to attending American Universit…
Samantha Strong
Samantha is a doctoral student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy with a concentration in public policy. Her research interests include gender equity, health policy, and the use of …
Carley Weted Adjunct Instructor
Carley Weted is a doctoral student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University. Her research interests include investigations of environmental factors with effects on …
Xiaoyang Xu Adjunct Instructor
Xiaoyang Xu is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University. Her research interests include representative bureaucracy, public management, and gend…
Political Science PhD Students
Ali Amini
Ali is a Ph.D. student concentrating in political methodology and the comparative politics of the Middle East. Methodologically, he is interested in causal inference, political data science, and the e…
Abdullah Atalan
Abdullah is a PhD student at American University. He studies comparative politics, political methodology with concentrations in civil-military relations and regime-types in the Middle East. Abdullah w…
Ryan Detamble Adjunct Instructor
Ryan M. DeTamble is a Ph.D. student in American Politics. His research focuses on questions of American political behavior, especially those related to public opinion, voting, partisanship, and polari…
Danielle Higgins Adjunct Instructor
Danielle Higgins is a doctoral student in Political Science at American University's School of Public Affairs. She specializes in Comparative Politics, with a secondary field in American Politics. Her…
Marcus Johnson
Marcus is a 4th year PhD student at American University. His research focuses on racial competition, political behavior, and social identity in American politics. Some of Marcus' current research proj…
Ellen Kamalyan
Ellen Kamalyan is a 1st year Ph.D. student at American University. She studies Comparative Politics and American Politics with research focuses on religious and ethnic violence and conflict, and regio…
Megan Kurten Adjunct Instructor
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…
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer is a PhD student at American University. She studies American politics with a concentration in racial and ethnic politics, specifically the political behavior of Latinos in the United States.…
Daniel Steiman Adjunct Instructor
Daniel Steiman is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Government, with concentrations in Comparative Politics and International Relations. His interests include political violence and civil wars, wi…
Dakota Strode
Dakota is a PhD student at American University. He studies American and comparative politics with concentrations in LGBTQ politics, political behavior, public opinion, and campaigns and elections.Dako…
Mark Tenenbaum
Mark is a third year PhD student at American University. He studies American politics, with interests in religion and politics, racial and ethnic politics, and political behavior. Some of Mark’s curre…
Karl Vonzabern
Karl VonZabern is a Ph.D. student in the political science department with a specialty in comparative politics and methods. His research focuses on the politics of climate change adaptation and mitiga…
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…
Justice, Law & Criminology PhD Students
Michael Becker
Michael H. Becker is a doctoral student in the Department of Justice, Law, and Criminology in the School of Public Affairs. His research interests include the individual and group correlates of suppor…
Natalie Chwalisz Adjunct Instructor
Natalie Chwalisz is a PhD candidate at the School of Public Affairs, in the Justice, Law and Criminology Department. She focuses in on human smuggling, mixed migration and forced displacement.In her f…
Sara Harmouch
Sara Harmouch is a third-year Ph.D. student at the School of Public Affairs. Her research interests are asymmetric warfare, alliances, political violence, violent extremism, armed non-state actors, al…
Melissa Kilmer
Melissa is a Ph.D. student in American University’s Department of Justice, Law, and Criminology. She received her B.A. in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Delaware in 2022. Her p…
Bethany Leap
Bethany Leap is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Justice, Law, and Criminology, focusing on her research interests of radicalization, extremist behavior, and quantitative methodology. Her current …
Alyssa Purdy Adjunct Instructor
Alyssa Purdy is currently pursuing a PhD in Justice, Law & Criminology with a secondary focus in Public Policy. She received her Master of Science degree in Justice, Law & Criminology from American Un…
Candace Strickland
Candace M. Strickland is a native of Raleigh, North Carolina. She is a doctoral student in the Department of Justice, Law, and Criminology in the School of Public Affairs.Her research interests includ…