Experience

Under Dr. Kim Yi Dionne's mentorship, Zabdi has been able to serve as a Research Assistant (RA) for the Dionne Publicly Engaged Research Laboratory (DPERL) since January 2022. In his time with the laboratory, Zabdi has been able to assist Dr. Dionne in conducting political science research in developing countries such as Malawi, Ghana, and other African nations. Duties include working both individually and in groups, transcribing audio and video, conducting literature reviews, archiving newspaper articles and databases, social media flyers, and other data visualizations. Alongside his lab partners, Zabdi has been able to collaboratively collect and manage data while building skills in research methods. DPERLab's research topics include effective methods of addressing vaccine hesitancy, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, diplomacy in Malawi, COVID-19 vaccine promoters, and disease exposure in Ghana, among others.

In his Fall 2022 academic quarter, Zabdi started an Independent Research Project with Professor Kim Yi Dionne in which he sought to study the Imperial Valley and the Salton Sea, in the context of the recent lithium discoveries in the region and the rapid industrialization through the "Lithium Valley" initiative, which seeks to capitalize off of mineral extraction in hopes of bringing the community an economic boost. Zabdi, being an Imperial Valley resident, hopes to bring awareness to the region and its environmental issues, how these affect local residents' health and economic outcomes, and how these factors mobilize or demobilize political participation.

Thanks to this opportunity, Zabdi was able to submit his paper for multiple calls for undergraduate research journals and symposiums and hopes to present his findings at the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) in April of 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. 

Thanks to UCR's R'Courses student-led learning program with the Office of Student Engagement, Zabdi will be teaching this topic as a class, titled "Lithium Valley Politics", for approximately 20 undergraduate students at the University of California, Riverside in the Spring 2023 quarter.