Zabdi R. Velásquez
I am a Ph.D. student in Political Science at UCLA, where I was awarded the Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellowship by UCLA's Division of Graduate Education and nominated by my faculty advisor for UCLA's Competitive Edge Summer Bridge Program.
Prior to UCLA, I attended the University of California Riverside where I received a Political Science & International Affairs BA. As a Research Assistant in Dr. Kim Yi Dionne's Publicly Engaged Research Lab, I co-authored an article submitted to the PS: Political Science & Politics journal. The article, for which I am the first author, is titled: Undergraduates and Political Science Research: Insights from Research Assistants in a Minority-Serving Institution Lab and was published on 29 March 2023.
My research interests in Race, Ethnicity, and Politics (REP) & Comparative Politics stem from my undergraduate work with Professor Kim Yi Dionne at UC Riverside.
Credit: Stan Lim, UCR photographer.
Involvement
The DPERL team in their end-of-the-quarter social (Left to right: Alex Kozak, Justin Cheng, Kimberly Aguilar, Zabdi Velasquez, Little A., Fulya Felicity Turkmen, Jasmine Esmail, Harry Stoltz, Jhon Luna, and Kim Yi Dionne). Spring 2022.
The DPERL team, after culminating their quarter-long Undergraduate Research Training (Left to right: Harry Stoltz, Fulya Felicity Turkmen, Jhon Luna, Jasmine Esmail, Zabdi Velasquez, Kimberly Aguilar, Kim Yi Dionne). Winter 2023.
National Model United Nations Conference, New York 2022
Zabdi, alongside the Model United Nations at UC Riverside club at the annual National Model United Nations Conference in New York City. UC Riverside Delegation representing Member State Belize.
Zabdi, alongside the Model United Nations at UC Riverside Club at the entrance to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
Zabdi, alongside one of his working groups at the annual National Model United Nations Conference in New York City (NMUN-NY). Committee General Assembly Third (GA-3) for Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Issues.
Zabdi, alongside the UC Riverside delegation, were awarded, "Outstanding Delegation", the conference's most prestigious award.