Muharrem Bagriyanik

I am a third year Ph.D. student in Political Science at University of Florida. My first field is Comparative Politics and second field is political methodology. I mainly study political behavior, civil war, conflict resolution, terrorism, political violence, and immigration. Currently I am working on path dependency of political leaders in conflicts, elections and civil war, winning or framing "hearts and mind” of ethnic minority during civil war. I am very interested in Bayesian Statistics, Multilevel Model, and Causal Inference. I generally apply quantitative methods in my research. I received my B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Marmara University (Turkey), and M.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Istanbul Şehir University (Turkey).

Christine Berry

I am a third-year Ph.D. student in the University of Florida’s Department of Political Science, where I study Comparative Politics and Political Methodology. My research interests concern the political behavior and identity development of immigrants in Europe. I received a dual B.A. in Political Science and History and minored in European Union Studies in the Spring of 2021.

Payton Capes-Davis

Payton Capes-Davis is a second year graduate student at the University of Florida. Ms. Capes-Davis research interests include national identity and citizenship through a comparative and historical institutional lens. In 2022, she conducted research with Dr. Alarian as part of the Haskell Faculty Research Award to examine immigrant voting rights in the Untied States. In addition to her studies. Ms. Capes-Davis ran Cross Country and Field for the University of Florida.

Juliana Mucci

I am a third-year Ph.D. student in the University of Florida’s Department of Political Science, where I am studying American Politics and Political Methodology. My research interests include political behavior and participation. Prior to attending UF, I received my B.A. in Political Science, Spanish, and Mathematics from Samford University in Birmingham, AL in the Spring of 2020.

Recent Work

• Mail Voting and Voter Turnout. Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy

  • Referenced in The New York Times: “This is one Republican Strategy that Isn’t Paying Off”

Kelly Richardson

I am a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Political Science. My research focuses on race and urban politics. Specifically, my current research seeks to understand the political implications of gentrification in the South. I plan to study these effects by observing who is moving in and how it affects political participation in their new location. Before starting the Ph.D., I received my B.S. in political science from Middle Tennessee State University in 2018.

Recent work:

• “The bomb threats against Howard University affect far more than a single university” Washington Post.

Brittany Shaughnessy

I am a third-year doctoral student and graduate assistant in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. My specialization is in political communication, with my research aiming to answer the following research question: Why do people dislike each other along political lines (whether this be resentment, partisan media, etc.), and what can we do to help mitigate the divide? More broadly, I am interested in the impact of partisan media on political outcomes. I received my BA in communication from Coastal Carolina University and my MA in communication from Virginia Tech.

Recent Work:

• The good, the bad, and the evil media: Influence of online comments and media trust. Journalism Studies. (2023)

• Populist hyperpartisans?: The interaction between partisan media exposure and populism in the 2020 US Presidential Election. Mass Communication and Society. Forthcoming.

• Morality on the ballot: Strategic issue salience and affective moral intuitions in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Journal of Communication Management. Forthcoming.

Francesca Tomasino

Francesca Tomasino is a fourth-year Political Science and Economics double major at UF. Her research interests include immigration, political behavior, and environmental policy. As a Junior Research Fellow working with Dr. Hannah Alarian, she conducted research on non-EU immigrant voting rights in Germany. Through the Haskell Faculty Research Award, she studied Latino linked fate with Dr. James Fahey. At the 2023 Midwest Political Science Association Conference, she presented research alongside Dr. Teresa Cornacchione on the impact of election reminders on voter turnout.

Ariane Cortes

I am a fourth-year International Studies and Political Science dual major at UF. My research interests include immigrant integration, national identity, and minority rights in Western Europe. In the future, I plan to pursue a career that will allow me to connect these interests, including my love for foreign languages. Outside of academics, I work with Teach For America as an IGNITE Fellow, tutoring Title I students in third-grade reading.

Anton Roche

I am a fourth-year Political Science and Biochemistry dual degree student at UF. I am completing my honors thesis in Political Science studying immigrant integration in Western Europe. My research explores the relationship between immigrants and institutions in Western Europe, determining if certain institutions are more likely to suppress or promote anti-immigrant ideologies. I plan to pursue a career at the intersection of my interests, studying global & environmental health to examine how environmental and institutional factors affect human health and behavior. Outside of academics, I do science outreach at local elementary and middle schools, and I enjoy running, reading, and cooking. 

2024 CLAS Excellence Award Winner

Madigan Y. Wilford

I am a third-year Political Science major at UF and lab manager. My research interests include political discussion, polarization and social media, and election data science. I am eager to learn more about qualitative methods of research and the intersection of computer science and political behavior. As an Emerging Scholar under the Center for Undergraduate Research, I am currently researching the effect of political disagreement on attitudes toward political discussion. In the future, I aim to pursue a career path which combines my interests in political science and data science. Outside of my studies, I enjoy traveling, writing, reading, and practicing karate.