graduate students

Doctoral Students 

Main advisor:

Mitsuhito ASO (Mie, Japan)

• Works on the electoral consequences of terrorism, with a focus on Turkey

Ruosui "Kelly" ZHANG (China) , Ph.D. 2024

• Dissertation: Politics of Foreign Investment: How Domestic Politics of Host States Affect China’s Overseas Dam Projects

• Lecturer, School of Politics and International Relations, Australian National University

Sub-advisor:

Takashi NAGATSUJI (Osaka, Japan)

• Dissertation: Electoral Blind Spot and International Observers in Africa

• Works on social movements and elections in Africa, with fieldwork in Senegal

Antonio BENASAGLIO BERLUCCHI (Italy), Ph.D. 2024

• Dissertation:  Challenger Parties in Contemporary Liberal Democracies: Party positions and Voter Perceptions

• Senior Assistant Professor (Senninkoushi), School of Political Science & Economics, Meiji University

Aya Miyasaka WATANABE (Tokyo, Japan), Ph.D. 2021  

• Dissertation:  Politics of Peace-Making: A Veto Player Approach to Civil War Termination in the Philippines and Sri Lanka

• Researcher, IDE-JETRO

Masters Students (main and sub-advisor)

Artur OJOGA (Moldova): In progress.

May Poe Thu (Myanmar): In progress.

Ke ZHANG (China): A Comparative Analysis of Immigration Policy in OECD Countries: Does Aging Population and Island Status Matter? M.A. 2025

Ken ENDO (Japan/Spain): Explaining Political Instability in Otherwise Stable Democracies: A Cross-National Analysis of Government Formation Failure, M.A. 2022.

OOI Kok hin (Malaysia): The Politics of Student Debt: Social Movements, Opposition Parties, and Agenda Setting, M.A. 2021. After graduation: doctoral program in Political Science at the State University of New York, Albany

Jeremy BOO (Singapore): Courting Independence: Why and When Judges Annul Elections in Flawed Democracies, M.A. 2018. After graduation: doctoral program in Political Science at the University of Michigan

Wint Wint Aung Khaing (Myanmar):  Authoritarian Regime Transition in Myanmar: A Comparative Analysis of the 1990 and 2015 Election, M.A. 2018.

Boldsaikhan SAMBUU (Mongolia): Buying Votes with Rents: The Politics of Economic Populism and Clientelism in Natural Resource Dependent Democracies, M.A. 2018.

Former Students from Texas A&M University

I served as a committee member for a few doctoral students while I was at TAMU, including:

Sejin Koo, Ph.D., Political Science, Texas A&M University, 2014

• Dissertation: Parties, Voters, and Activists: Building Ideological Linkage in Developing Democracies 

• Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, INHA University

• Faculty Profile, INHA University 

Rhonda Struminger, Ph.D., Political Science, Texas A&M University, 2013

• Dissertation: “Education Spending: Impacts on Human Capital Development” 

• Research Assistant Professor/Assistant Professor of the Practice, Ecosystems Science & Management, Texas A&M University

• Visiting Professor, University of Padova

• http://www.rhondastruminger.net/