Award Recipients and Publications

Many graduate students in the UC Davis Department of Political Science have been recognized over the years through the publication of their scholarly works, and by receiving awards acknowledging the high quality of their scholarship.

Our students have earned professional recognition through publications, fellowships and awards during their graduate career at Davis. Representative examples are shown here. For the accomplishments of the alumni of our graduate program, please visit the Placements page

  • 2016

  • • Cory Belden, winner of the Rothchild Memorial Grant
    • Jesse Fabrikant, winner of the Provost's First Year Fellowship in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
    • Jamie Jackson, winner of the Merk Family Distinguished Prospectus Award
    • Joel Landis, winner of the Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Educational Foundation Dissertation Writing Fellowship
    • Matthew Lesenyie, winner of the Zetterbaum Teaching Award
    • Matthew Lesenyie, winner Dean's Prize for Best Oral Presentation in Social Sciences, UC Davis Interdisciplinary Graduate and Professional Symposium for “Reading the Fine Print? An Experimental Test of Campaign Finance Reform”
    • Marisella Rodriguez, winner of the Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Educational Foundation Dissertation Writing Fellowship
    • Amy Skoll, winner of the Provost's First Year Fellowship in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
    • Roi Zur, winner of the Bret Hewitt Distinguished Qualifying Exam Award

  • 2015

  • • Christy Cahill, winner of the Zetterbaum Teaching Award
    • William Dan, winner of the Yen Chuang Taiwan Fellowship Award
    • Christopher P. Donnelly, "Balancing act? Testing a theory of split-party U.S. Senate delegations." Electoral Studies, Forthcoming.
    • Christopher P. Donnelly, winner of the Merk Family Distinguished Prospectus Award 
    • Jordan Hamzawi, winner of the Provost's First Year Fellowship in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
    • Timothy Peterka, winner of the 2015–16 Herbert F. York Global Security Dissertation Fellowship from the UC Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation
    • Erole Slande, winner of the 2015–17 Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship Award
    • Timothy Taylor, winner of the Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Educational Foundation Dissertation Writing Fellowship
    • Timothy Taylor, winner of the Rothchild Memorial Grant

  • 2014

  • • Jesse R. Hammond, "Using machine-coded event data for the micro-level study of political violence." Research and Politics (with Nils Weidmann).
    • Timothy W. Taylor, "The Electoral Salience of Trade Policy: Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Welfare and Complexity." International Interactions, Forthcoming.

  • 2013

  • • Shareefa Al-Adwani, 2013–2014 Herbert F. York Global Security Dissertation Fellowship, UC Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation.
    • Richard Bairett, "Institutions and the stabilization of party systems in the new democracies of central and eastern Europe." Electoral Studies (with Josephine T. Andrews), Forthcoming.
    • Jesse R. Hammond, "An examination of the relationship between international telecommunication networks, terrorism and global news coverage." Social Networks and Data Mining (with George Barnett).
    • Jesse R. Hammond, "Capitol mobility: Madisonian representation and the location and relocation of capitals in the United States." American Political Science Review (with Erik Engstrom and John T. Scott).
    • Jesse R. Hammond, 2013 Predoctoral fellowship, University of Konstanz.
    • Danielle A. Joesten, "Explaining proximity voting in 2006." Journal of Politics (with Walter Stone).
    • Richard A.I. Johnson, "Politics and parasites: The contribution of corruption to human misery." International Studies Quarterly (with Randolph Siverson).
    • Timothy P. Jurka, "RTextTools: A supervised learning package for text classification." The R Journal (with L. Collingwood, A.E. Boydstun, E. Grossman, and W. van Atteveldt).
    • Matthew Lesenyie, 2013 Dean's Prize for Best Oral Presentation in the Social Sciences for "Torts of appeal: Do elected judges rule differently than appointed judges?" UC Davis Interdisciplinary Graduate and Professional Student Symposium
    • Aaron Shreve, 2013–2014 International Nuclear Security Fellowship Competition, UC Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation.
    • Andrey Tomashevskiy, "Trade and democracy: Which leads and how?" The international political economy of trade, ed. David Deese (Edward Elgar, U.K.), Forthcoming.
    • Shaina Western, "Levels of linkage: Across-agreement v. within-agreement explanations of consensus formation among states." International Studies Quarterly (with Heather McKibben).

  • 2012

  • • Richard Bairett, 2012–2013, Provost's Dissertation Year Fellowship in The Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
    • Chris Hallenbrook, 2012–2013, Research Fellowship, Mellon Research Initiative in Early Modern Studies.
    • Alicja Jac-Kucharski, "The determinants of human trafficking: A U.S. case study." International Migration.
    • Timothy P. Jurka, "Maxent: An R Package for low-memory multinomial logistic regression with support for semi-automated text classification." The R Journal.
    • Matthew Lesenyie, "Power to the people: Checking special interests in California." California Journal of Politics and Policy (with Stacy Gordon Fisher and Kimberly Nalder).
    • Tracy K. Lin, 2012–2013 Dissertation Fellowship and Research Support, UC Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation.
    • Matthew T. Pietryka, "Going maverick: How candidates can use agenda-setting to influence citizen motivations and offset unpopular issue positions." Political Behavior (with Amber Boydstun).
    • Jack Reilly, "Networks, interdependence, and social influence in politics." Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology, eds. Leonie Huddy, David O. Sears, and Jack Levy. New York: Oxford University Press (with Robert Huckfeldt, Jeery J. Mondak, Matthew Hayes, and Matthew T. Pietryka).

  • 2011

  • • Matthew K. Buttice and Caitlin Milazzo, "Candidate positioning in Britain." Electoral Studies.
    • Kevin Evans and Elizabeth Simas, "Linking party platforms to perceptions of presidential candidates' policy positions, 1972–2000." Political Research Quarterly.
    • Richard A. I. Johnson, "Militarized refugee camps: Causes and consequences." Journal of Refugee Studies.
    • Milosz Kucharski, "Balancing unipolarity: Russian responses to American preeminence." Stosunki Międzynarodowe – International Relations.
    • Milosz Kucharski, "China in the age of American primacy." International Relations.
    • Debra Leiter, 2011–2013 Bilinski Fellowship.
    • Debra Leiter, "Which voting subconstituencies reacted to elite depolarization in the Netherlands? An analysis of the Dutch public's policy beliefs and partisan loyalties, 1986–1998." British Journal of Political Science (with James Adams and Catherine De Vries).
    • Sarah P. Lockhart, 2011. "The Trans-Tasman travel arrangement." In Migration, Nation States, and International Cooperation, eds. Randall Hansen, Jobst Koehler, and Jeannette Money. New York: Routledge (with Jeannette Money).
    • Caitlin Milazzo, "When do you follow the (national) leader? Party Switching by Subnational Legislators in Japan." Electoral Studies (with Ethan Scheiner).
    • Michelle Schwarze, 2011–2013 Bilinski Fellowship.
    • Michelle Schwarze, 2011–2012 UC Davis Graduate Student Research Mentorship Award.
    • Elizabeth Simas, "When candidates value good job performance: A spatial model with applications to congressional elections." Journal of Politics (with James Adams, Samuel Merrill, and Walter Stone).
    • John M. Warner, "Sin city: Augustine and Machiavelli's reordering of Rome." Journal of Politics (with John T. Scott).
    ​​​​​​​• Shaina Western, Best Graduate Student Paper Award for "A social explanation of commitment: A Reevaluation of states' commitment against torture." International Studies Association – West.

  • 2010

  • • Alexander K. Mayer, "Does education increase political participation?" Journal of Politics.
    • Alexander K. Mayer, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2008–2011).
    • Caitlin Milazzo, "Has the British public depolarized along with political elites? An American perspective on British public opinion." Comparative Political Studies (with James Adams and Jane Green).
    • Elizabeth Simas, "Risk orientation and policy frames." Journal of Politics (with Cindy Kam).
    ​​​​​​​• James R. Zink, "Reconsidering the role of self-respect in Rawl's A Theory of Justice." Journal of Politics.

  • 2009

  • • Matthew Buttice "Polarization, attribution and communication networks in the 2006 congressional elections." in Jeffery J. Mondak and Donna-Gene Mitchell, eds. Fault Lines: Why the Republicans Lost Congress (Routledge) (with John Barry Ryan and Robert Huckfeldt).
    • Skyler J. Cranmer, "Demography, democracy, and disputes: The search for the elusive relationship between population growth and international conflict." Journal of Politics (with Randolph M. Siverson).
    • Skyler J. Cranmer, "Do governments of the left attract more terrorism than governments of the right?" Conflict Management and Peace Science (with Michael T. Koch).
    • Nikolas Emmanuel, "U.S. incentive strategies in African conflicts." in Mathew Hoddie and Caroline Hartzell, Enforcing Peace (Lynne Rienner) (with Donald S. Rothchild).
    • Kris Inman, NSF Dissertation Improvement Grant.
    • Alexander K. Mayer, "Politics, expertise, and interdependence within electorates." in Jan Leighley, ed., The Oxford Handbook of American Elections and Political Behavior (Oxford University Press) (with T.K. Ahn, Robert Huckfeldt, and John Barry Ryan).
    • Molly M. Melin, "Management and the durability of peace." In Sage Handbook on Conflict Resolution (with Scott Sigmund Gartner).
    • Carl L. Palmer, Journal of Politics Best Paper Award (with Cindy D. Kam).
    • Jennifer M. Ramos, "Sovereignty and cognitive dissonance." In Amy Eckert and Laura Sjoberg, eds., Rethinking the 21st Century: 'Old Solutions to 'New' Problems (Zed Books).
    • John Barry Ryan, "Polarization, attribution and communication networks in the 2006 congressional elections." In Jeffery J. Mondak and Donna-Gene Mitchell, eds. Fault Lines: Why the Republicans Lost Congress (Routledge) (with Matthew Buttice and Robert Huckfeldt).
    • John Barry Ryan, "Politics, expertise, and interdependence within electorates." In Jan Leighley, ed., The Oxford Handbook of American Elections and Political Behavior (Oxford University Press) (with T.K. Ahn, Robert Huckfeldt, and Alex Mayer).
    • Belgin San Akca, "Supporting non-state armed groups: A resort to illegality?" Journal of Strategic Studies.
    • Marc Scarcelli, "Exceptional Cases: The 'boat peoples' of Cuba and Haiti." In David Kyle and Rey Kozlowski, eds., Global Human Smuggling: Comparative Perspectives, 2nd Edition (Johns Hopkins) (with David Kyle).
    • Marc Scarcelli, "Religion and civil conflict in Africa." In Edmond Keller, ed., Religious Ideas and Institutions and Transitions to Democracy in Africa.
    • Zeynep Somer-Topcu, "Do parties adjust their policies in response to rival parties' policy shifts? Spatial theory and the dynamics of party competition in twenty-five postwar democracies." British Journal of Political Science (with James Adams).
    • Zeynep Somer-Topcu, "Survival of the fittest? Cabinet duration in post-communist Europe." Comparative Politics (with Laron Williams).
    • Zeynep Somer-Topcu, "Timely decisions: The effects of past national elections on party policy." Journal of Politics.
    • James R. Zink, "Courting the public: the influence of decision attributes on individuals: Views of court opinions." Journal of Politics (with James F. Spriggs II and John T. Scott).
    ​​​​​​​• James R. Zink, "The Language of liberty and law: James Wilson on America's written Constitution." American Political Science Review.

  • 2008

  • • Ronni Abney, Andrea Morrison, and Gary A. Stradiotto, "The stability of representation: A cross-national analysis of party policy dispersion." Representation.
    • Richard Bairett, UC Davis Graduate Scholars Fellowship Recipient.
    • Nikolas Emmanuel, "Economic aid and peace implementation: The African experience." Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding (with Donald Rothchild).
    • Molly M. Melin, "Potential peacemakers: Establishing a population of third parties considering mediation." In Jacob Bercovitch and Scott Sigmund Gartner, eds., Empirical Studies in International Mediation: New Approaches and Findings (Routledge) (with Scott Sigmund Gartner).
    • Carl L. Palmer, "Reconsidering the effects of education on political participation." Journal of Politics (with Cindy D. Kam).
    • John Barry Ryan, NSF Dissertation Improvement Grant.
    • Aimee A. Tannehill, "Negotiating with the dragon: The People's Republic of China and international dispute settlement duration." Tamkang Journal of International Affairs (with Scott Sigmund Gartner).
    ​​​​​​​• Jennifer R. Wilking, "From the gap to the chasm: Gender and participation among non-Hispanic whites and Mexican Americans." Political Research Quarterly (with Cindy D. Kam and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister).

  • 2007

  • ​​​​​​​• Leo Blanken, Best Dissertation Award from the Western Political Science Association.
    • Monti Datta, "Of paradise, power and pachyderms." Political Science Quarterly (with Miroslav Nincic)
    • Gregory Love, "Who rides the storm? Political institutions and trade adjustment." Business and Politics (with Daniel Y. Kono).
    • Molly M. Melin, Folke Bernadotte Academy Research Grant.
    • Carl L. Palmer, Pi Sigma Alpha Award for best paper presented at the 2006 Midwest Political Science Association meeting (with Cindy D. Kam).
    • Jennifer M. Ramos, "Crisis, charisma and consequences: Evidence from the 2004 U.S. presidential election." Journal of Politics (with Jennifer Merolla and Elizabeth Zechmeister).
    • Jennifer M. Ramos, University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Dissertation Fellowship, 2007–2008.
    • John Barry Ryan, Paul Lazarsfeld Best Paper Award by the American Political Science Association Organized Section on Political Communication (with Robert Huckfeldt and T.K. Ahn).
    • Gary A. Stradiotto, "The nature and direction of economic reform in North Korea." Political Studies (with Sujian Guo).
    • Gary A. Stradiotto, "Market socialism in North Korea: A comparative perspective." Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy (with Sujian Guo).
    • Jennifer R. Wilking, "Beyond the 'narrow data base': Another convenience sample for experimental research." Political Behavior (with Cindy D. Kam and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister).