Department of Political Science, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Since August 2012
Full-time
Lincoln
United States - Nebraska
Ríséarch on political párticăpation - In my dissertation I use a variety of methods to show the impact of two variables, agenda congruence (how well the elite's perceived agenda matches that of the individual) and latent dimension congruence (how well the liberal-conservative dimension represents the structure of a person's own political views) on different forms of participation, including: institutional, non-institutional, and civic participation, as well as voting. The methodological framework of the study is SEM with non-linear components added, based on my own data as well as international datasets.
Research on political ideology - The main focus of my research has been to uncover the 'real' factor structure of political ideology as opposed to the simplified conservative-liberal (right-left) view. In the process I developed a survey and used CFA to demonstrate the existence of a five-factor structure. These results have the potential to reshape the way we conceptualize political ideology and the left-right dimension.
Individual teaching - I had the privilege to teach the department's Political Analysis course, an extensive introduction to social scientific research centered primarily on methods and critical thinking tools.
Teaching assistant - I participated in the teaching of and contributed to the development of two courses: Power and Politics in America (an online introductory class) and Genetics, Brains, and Politics (a class centered on the emerging discipline of Biopolitics, my department's specialty). For my efforts I received the department's Best Teaching Assistant Award and was nominated again in my second year.
Othmer Fellowship - For the duration of my first three years (their longest span) I was only the second student in the history of the department to receive the prestigious Othmer Fellowship offered to the 30 highest qualified applicants to the entire university in a given year.
