Prof. Amy H Liu (PhD Emory University; BA Smith College) is an associate professor in the Government Department and codirector of the PRE Lab. Her research and teaching focus on the intersection of ethnic politics, language politics, and migration politics.
Prof. Liu’s first book Standardizing Diversity: The Political Economy of Language Regimes examines how the recognition of lingua francas can be conducive for economic growth – in Asia generally and in Southeast Asia specifically.
The second book The Language of Political Incorporation: Chinese Migrants in Europe looks at the linguistic networks of Chinese migrants and the implications for engagement with local authorities in Europe.
She has a forthcoming Cambridge Elements monograph (coauthored with Jacob Ricks) explaining the treatment of ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia.
Prof. Liu is currently working on a new book project examining the diversity and representation of government cabinets. Her other works have appeared in journals such as British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and World Politics.
Prof. Eric L. McDaniel (PhD University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; BA Wilberforce University) is an associate professor in the Government Department and codirector of the PRE Lab.
Prof. McDaniel is the author of Politics in the Pews: The Political Mobilization of Black Churches, which examines why some Black churches choose to engage the political world while others do not. He has also explored how the various messages and beliefs in the Black religious experience influence Black political behavior. He is currently engaged in a co-authored project that examines how the intermingling of religious and national identity influences how citizens come to understand their nation and it its place in the world.
Finally, Prof. McDaniel is interested in the role of social policy in shaping the outcomes of marginalized groups. Focusing specifically on health policy he has begun a research agenda that examines public support for medical outreach for marginalized groups and how Black political power can generate better health outcomes for Blacks.
Dr. Hannah Walker (PhD University of Washington, BA Washington State University) is an assistant professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research examines the impact of the criminal justice system on American democracy with special attention to minority and immigrant communities.
Her book, Mobilized by Injustice, explores the impact of experiences with the criminal justice system on political engagement, with particular interest in the conditions under which people decide to contest punitive policies in the United States. Current research builds on the book to take an in-depth look at the intersections of immigration and criminal justice, and the means by which Latinx communities are specifically targeted by these policies. A series of field experiments evaluates best strategies for mobilizing people with felony convictions to register and vote. A final suite of projects examines the politics of policing and possibilities for harm-reductive reforms.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Jangai Jap (PhD George Washington University; BA Yale University) is a Provost’s Early Career Postdoctoral Fellow in the Government Department and the PRE Lab.
Dr. Jap’s research focuses on ethnic politics and minority representation; state-building and street-level bureaucracy; and Burma/Myanmar politics. Her dissertation supported by the NSF – examines how and why politically non-dominant ethnic groups develop attachment to the state. She provides a micro-level explanation, emphasizing ordinary citizens’ everyday encounters as an important driver of minority – state relations. She evaluates this theory based on interview data and survey and experimental data collected over 13 months of fieldwork in Myanmar. Her work has been published in Electoral Studies.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Marcel Roman (PhD University of California-Los Angeles; BA University of Kentucky) is a Provost’s Early Career Postdoctoral Fellow in the Government Department and the PRE Lab.
Roman’s research focuses on immigration politics, political behavior, and Latinx politics. His dissertation examines how an increasingly restrictive immigration enforcement environment over the past 30 years motivates and maintains progressive political commitments among Latinx communities despite countervailing conservative forces. His work has been published in Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and UCLA Law Review.
Roman Hlatky (BA Vassar College) is a PhD Candidate in the Government Department and the PRE Lab Manager. He studies ethnic politics and voting behavior in Central and Eastern Europe.
Hlatky’s dissertation examines the links between the actions of international actors, political opinion formation, and nationalist voting. Outside funding sources have included the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, the Eastern Focus Fellowship, the Fulbright Fellowship, the National Scholarship Program of the Slovak Republic, and the US Embassy Small Grants Program. Roman’s works have appeared in East European Politics, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, and Political Research Quarterly.
