Global / Transnational

Research Interest

Max Kagan

Graduate Student
Political Science

Max Kagan is a Ph.D. student in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on international political economy. His main research interest is the political impact of cross-border flows of money and people. In particular, he focuses on how multinational corporations and financial firms interact with international and national politics.

Jennie Barker

Graduate Student
Political Science

Jennie Barker is a Ph.D. student in political science at the University of California, Berkeley, where she studies international influences on democratization. Her current research examines recipient government behavior toward democracy assistance. Prior to coming to UC Berkeley, Barker worked at the National Endowment for Democracy and completed a Fulbright fellowship in Germany.

Barker is also a recipient of the 2021 IIS Pre-Disseration Research Fellowship.

Joanna Vasquez

Undergraduate Student
Political Science

Joanna Vasquez is a junior from La Puente, California who is pursuing a B.A. in Political Science. Her research interests include labor law, immigration, public safety in Latin America, international relations, and foreign policy. Following her time at UC Berkeley, Vasquez hopes to work abroad as a teacher and ultimately go to law school to eventually become a labor law attorney and give back to her community.

Aaliyah Pondor

Undergraduate Student
Environmental Economics and Policy
Business Administration

Aaliyah is a sophomore from Mauritius studying Environmental Economics and Policy and Business Administration. Her research interests include economic development and resource mobilization in Africa and its intersection with global energy policy. Being an international student, she has a unique perspective on the social and economic inequities faced by the global North and South. In her free time, Aaliyah enjoys road trips, hiking and exploring coffee shops around the city!

Rodrigo Ramirez-Perez

Undergraduate Student
Political Science
Philosophy

Rodrigo Ramirez-Perez is a third year Political Science and Philosophy major. His academic interests include international organizations and their subversion of state sovereignty, the causes and exacerbating elements of genocides, and the long-term state stability-related effects of state violence on citizen populations. Rodrigo has served as a research assistant to Dr. Susan Hyde since May 2020, researching regional organizations, human rights, and policing in the United States. Since 2016, Ramirez-Perez has worked as a leadership...

Isabelle Valdes

Undergraduate Student
Political Science
Spanish

Isabelle Valdes is a junior at Cal double majoring in Political Science and Spanish and minoring in Data Science. Her academic interests broadly include postcolonial politics in Latin America, Andean history, indigenous politics, political theory, and quantitative methodology. She is an alum of the Pipeline Initiative in Political Science (PIPS) at UC Berkeley, and plans on pursuing a Ph.D in Political Science focused on Latin America in the future. In her free time, Isabelle is an avid reader and also enjoys cooking, going on hikes, and studying Romance languages.

Jai Sharma

Undergraduate Student
Computer Science
Political Science

Jai Sharma is a junior at the University of California, Berkeley, studying Computer Science and Political Science, interested in international relations and political theory. Jai has worked as a research assistant to Professor Aila Matanock since January 2021 on various projects. He has also interned at Oracle as a database engineer. Outside of his academic interests, Jai enjoys collecting records and playing guitar.

Rana Nejad

Undergraduate Student
Political Science

Rana Nejad is a student at UC Berkeley completing her B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Human Rights. Throughout her studies, she has focused mostly on the Middle East and North Africa region where she explores topics ranging from security and counterrorism to refugee rights and humanitarian development. Over the years, she has worked with nonprofits that advocate for the rights of immigrants and refugees along the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as contributed to a number of international affairs publications. Moving forward, she hopes to further advocate for the human rights of...

Evie Michele Porter

Undergraduate Student
Global Studies
Political Science

Evie Portier is a Dual Degree student from the Netherlands who is interested in international security. She is also the founder of Eefje Tutoring, and the president of STAND (the Student led movement to end mass atrocities) at Berkeley.

Liam Mirise

Undergraduate Student
Philosophy
Global Studies

Liam Mirise is a fourth-year transfer student from Visalia, California pursuing a double major in Philosophy and Global Studies with a minor in Linguistics. His academic focus is broadly centered on development, globalization, and technology. Prior to attending UC Berkeley, he served for four years in the California Army National Guard. He currently works as a writing assistant for the Blum Center for Developing Economies, where he has been assisting with early stage research on the potential applications of distributed ledger technology in the national defense supply chain.