Governance / Democracy

Research Interest

Louise Curtis

Undergraudate Student
History

Louise Curtis is a senior majoring in History with a minor in French. She is interested in early modern intellectual history and the history of political thought, especially as it relates to common people. Since March 2019 Louise has worked as a research assistant to David Collier, Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus of Political Science, on his Critical Junctures project. She assists with research, editing, and writing on American electoral history and methodology in political science for his forthcoming book.

Oren Samet

Graduate Student
Political Science

Oren Samet is pursuing a PhD in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include comparative politics and comparative democratization, with a particular focus on political transitions, parties, and elections in Southeast Asia. Before coming to Berkeley, he worked in various roles for non-governmental organizations in Thailand, including as Research and Advocacy Director for ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, a network of regional legislators. He previously worked as a Junior Fellow in the Democracy and Rule of Law Program at the Carnegie...

Matthew Kovac

Graduate Student
History

Matthew Kovac is PhD student in History at the University of California, Berkeley. His current research focuses on the Irish republican movement, decolonization, and the Global Cold War.

Kovac is the recipient of the 2021 IIS Pre-Dissertation Research Grant.

Gabriel Lesser

Graduate Student
Spanish and Portuguese

Gabriel Lesser is a Ph.D. student in Hispanic Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Berkeley. His interests include 19th and 20th century humor, visual studies, caricatures, and cartoons in Mexico and Brazil.

He is the recipient of the 2021 IIS Pre-Disseration Research Grant.

Blaze Joel

Graduate Student
History

Blaze Joel is a Ph.D. student in the History Department at the University of California Berkeley. His research focuses on nationalism, memory, violence, and national identity in twentieth-century Europe. He studies these issues in the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland, and the Basque Country, as well as in an international, trans-European framework. He also studies the Cold War in a global perspective.

Joel is a recipient of the 2021 IIS...

Amy Benziger

Graduate Student
Goldman School of Public Policy

Amy Benziger is an experienced strategist whose work has focused on the intersection of technology, social impact and advocacy. She is pursuing a Master of Public Affairs at the Goldman School with a focus on technology policy.

Stephen Neal

Graduate Student
Goldman School of Public Policy

Stephen Neal is an intellectual property lawyer of twenty years experience. He previously worked as an electric engineer developing evolutionary software. He is a candidate at the Goldman School for a Masters of Public Affairs to research climate change mitigation and adaptation policy. He also volunteers for election protection and voter right groups.

Shawn Ewbank

Graduate Student
Goldman School of Public Policy

Shawn Ewbank is an MPA Candidate at the University of California, Berkeley's Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy. He is focused on societal transformation towards peace, specifically in the context of climate change, technology, democracy and economy.

Sarayut Rueangsuwan

Graduate Student
Goldman School of Public Policy

Sarayut holds Ph.D. in Accountancy in the University of Exeter, UK. His interests include the implications of information technology for public finance, economic policy, financial regulations, renewable energy, and political architecture. He also focuses on how to develop optimal public policies to respond to such implications.

Karely Ordaz

Graduate Student
Goldman School of Public Policy

Karely Ordaz is a public sector leader with close to a decade working for the public good in both local government and community-based organizations. She holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley in American Studies with a concentration in Environment, Policy and Public Health. She was born in Mexico and immigrated to the U.S. at age 4.

In her role as Chief of Staff at a community development corporation (CDC), she leads the organization’s policy and advocacy priorities focused on achieving social equity. Prior to that she worked for an anchor institution in San Francisco...