Teaching & Advising

Interests and Expertise


Methodology: causal inference, coding for social scientists, computational social science methods, data collection and management, game theory, introductory probability and statistics, quantitative research design, statistical computing.

Substantive topics: courts and judicial decision-making, crime and criminal justice, identity and discrimination in politics, political economy, political institutions and processes, public policy analysis.

Dissertation Committees


Current Ph.D. Students (3+ Years)

RyuGyung (Rio) Park

Jack T. Rametta (chair)

Graduated Ph.D. Students

Ipek Çineli, Max Weber Fellow, European University Institute

Jonathan Colner, Faculty Fellow, NYU Center for Data Science

Gento Kato, Senior Assistant Professor, Meiji University

Courses Taught


Political Institutions

UC Davis/POL 155: Judicial Process and Behavior (last taught Spring 2023)
Upper-level undergraduate course on American judicial decision-making.

UC Davis/POL 290A: Principal-Agent Problems in American Political Institutions (last taught Spring 2021)
Graduate seminar on American political institutions.

Public Policy Analysis

UC Davis/POL 108: Policy Making in the Public Sector (last taught Winter 2024)
Upper-level undergraduate course on the policy-making.

UC Davis/POL 140E: Policy Making Processes (last taught Fall 2023)
Upper-level undergraduate course on policy-making processes in the US and UK.

Quantitative Methodology

UC Davis/POL 110: The Strategy of Politics (last taught Spring 2023)
Upper-level undergraduate game theory for political science.

UC Davis/POL 211: Research Methods for Political Science (last taught Fall 2022)
Introduction to probability and statistical inference for Ph.D. students

UC Davis/POL 215: Modeling Politics (last taught Winter 2024)
Introduction to game theory for Ph.D. students.

UC Davis/POL 282: Advanced Models of Politics (last taught Spring 2022)
Intermediate game theory for Ph.D. students with applications to models of politics.

Letters of Recommendation


Graduate school is a serious academic commitment. Graduate-level coursework is substantially harder and different than undergraduate-level coursework. If you have not received top grades in your undergraduate courses (for example, if your GPA is lower than 3.5), then you should ask yourself whether you are prepared to take on the academic challenges of graduate school.

I strongly recommend that students seek letters of recommendation from professors they know the best and in whose courses they performed the best. I will agree to write letters of recommendation for students who have demonstrated a high level of academic achievement in my courses and/or in independent research projects overseen by me. If you believe this applies to you and you would like to request a letter of recommendation from me, then you will need to fill out a letter of recommendation request form. Please send me an email to request electronic access to this form.