Current PhD Students

First Year Students (Starting fall 2017):

• Adam Hii is from Chicago, IL and his area of interest is international healthcare policy.
• Ilidio Nhantumbo is from Mozambique and is interested in in elections and democracy in Africa.

Second Year Students

• Nellie Bohac is from Minnetonka, Minnesota, and her areas of interest are international organizations and development.
• Samantha Costas is from Valparaiso, Indiana, and her area of interest is international relations, with a focus on US-Cuba relations.
• Jorge Guzman (Fulbright Scholar) is from Bogota, Colombia and his areas of interest are comparative politics, with an emphasis on inequality.
• Eugene Schelfaut is from Chicago, Illinois and his interests include nuclear deterrence, the evolution of sovereignty, and globalization and interdependence.

Third Year Students:

• Taghreed Alsabeh is from Buraydah, Saudi Arabia, and her area of interest is international relations, with an emphasis on the Middle East.
• Benjamin Collings is from Sabina, Ohio and his area of interest is political violence.

Fourth Year Students

• Muhammet Asil is from Istanbul, Turkey, and his areas of interest are refugees and the ethics of forced displacement.
• Paul Olander is from Canton, Ohio and his area of interest is international relations, with a focus on soft power.
• Mamy Randriamanantena is from Antananarivo, Madagascar and his area of interest is international relations, particularly the role of the Vatican as a third party mediator.
• Michael Schumacher(PhD Candidate, Teaching Fellow), is from Chicago, IL, is interested in comparative politics, political violence and terrorism, democratization and political development, and foreign policy analysis, with a regional focus on the Middle East and North Africa. His dissertation is titled “Dying to Fight: The Individual and Social Processes of the Foreign Fighter Phenomenon.”

Fifth Year Students

• Kirstie Dobbs (PhD Candidate, Schmitt Fellow) is from Carmel, Indiana, and is interested in comparative politics, with a specialization in revolutions and political behavior. Her dissertation title is "Active on the Street, but Apathetic at the Ballot Box? Evolving Political Behavior of Tunisian Youth during the Post-Revolutionary Era (2011 - Present)"
• Ratri Istania (PhD Candidate) is from Jakarta, Indonesia, her areas of interest are comparative politics, ethnopolitics and nationalism, and territorial and non-territorial autonomy. The title of her dissertation is “Administrative Unit Proliferation and Ethnic Group Conflict: Does the Prospect of a New Province Mitigate Ethnic Group Conflict?”

Sixth Year Students

• Caglayan Baser (PhD Candidate, Schmitt Fellow)
• Jacob Hartman
• Loontjer, Kimberly (PhD Candidate)
• Martin, Aaron (PhD Candidate, Schmitt Fellow)