Christina W
- Research Program Mentor

PhD at Purdue University

Expertise

Comparative Politics, Political Communication, Qualitative and Quantitative Methods, Computational Social Science, International Relations

Bio

I am an Assistant Professor of International Affairs at the University of Georgia. My research focuses on the role of emerging technology and AI in political communication (e.g., misinformation, deepfakes, new platforms like TikTok). In my Ph.D., my fields were Comparative Politics and Advanced Methodology (computational social science and experiments). I also have a Bachelor's degree in International Relations and French Language & Literature. I have previously worked for the State Department in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization and with USAID-Africa. I have multiple publications in Political Science Research and Methods, the Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, PS: Political Science & Politics, The Journal for the Middle East and Africa, and with the Harvard Kennedy School. I have also served as the Pi Sigma Alpha Undergraduate Journal of Politics Editor. I hope to help students find their passion through original research projects.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Understanding the Cyclical Nature of Disease and Conflict

Have you ever wanted to investigate why conflicts occur? Why some nations go to war more often than others? In this project, you will design a research project that can be completed at home, gather data, and present that data as either a research poster or presentation. You will learn about the social science research process, how to construct theory, analyze data, and how to communicate your results in a formal presentation.

Coding skills

R, LaTex, Python

Languages I know

French

Teaching experience

I have taught 5 courses over 7 semesters, including: Graduate Level: Technopolitics: AI and Comparative Politics Undergraduate Level: Technopolitics: AI and Political Systems Introduction to Comparative Politics American Government Global Green Politics I am also a co-PI on the Political Deepfakes Incidents Database Project, where I oversee 20+ undergraduate and graduate research assistants.

Credentials

Work experience

State Department, Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization-Africa (2020 - Current)

Conflict Analyst

USAID (2019 - 2020)

Policy Analyst

Education

Oakland University

BA Bachelor of Arts (2020)

International Relations and French

Purdue University

MA Master of Arts (2023)

Political Science