TEACHING

Teaching Experience

Introduction to Comparative Politics

Teaching Assistant

Professor  Jorge Moreno Plascencia
PS 6, Department of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara,

Summer 2025

This course introduces students to the politics and policy of the contemporary global energy system. We will discuss major public policy and politics related to both the electricity and transportation systems, with a greater emphasis on the former. Although the focus will primarily be on American politics and policy, we will include comparative energy policy cases from other countries. Students wishing to take this course for credit in an American or Comparative Politics specialization will be required to write memos on American or Comparative cases, respectively. By the end of the course, students will be expected to understand the energy technologies’ characteristics and perform basic calculations. Students will be expected to understand contemporary political debates over the energy system. Students will be expected to grapple with the political dimensions of the energy system, demonstrating an ability to identify the key actors, policies, institutions, and interests in the energy system. Students will also work to understand several energy politics cases in detail through written and oral assignments.

Energy Politics

Co-Instructor and Teaching Assistant

Professor Leah Stokes
PS 176, Department of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara,

Spring 2025

This course introduces students to the politics and policy of the contemporary global energy system. We will discuss major public policy and politics related to both the electricity and transportation systems, with a greater emphasis on the former. Although the focus will primarily be on American politics and policy, we will include comparative energy policy cases from other countries. Students wishing to take this course for credit in an American or Comparative Politics specialization will be required to write memos on American or Comparative cases, respectively. By the end of the course, students will be expected to understand the energy technologies’ characteristics and perform basic calculations. Students will be expected to understand contemporary political debates over the energy system. Students will be expected to grapple with the political dimensions of the energy system, demonstrating an ability to identify the key actors, policies, institutions, and interests in the energy system. Students will also work to understand several energy politics cases in detail through written and oral assignments.

Introduction to Research in Political Science

Teaching Assistant

Professor Paasha Mahdavi
PS 15, Department of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara,

Winter 2025

The course teaches basic statistical techniques that are useful for describing and making inferences from data. The course also familiarizes students with R, a widely used and free statistical platform for analyzing data. By the end of the course, students should be able to understand and critique research, and perform basic statistical analyses in R. The goal of the course is to understand the process social scientists use to test theories and discover patterns in data.

Introduction to Research in Political Science

Teaching Assistant

Professor Cesar Benshuni Martinez-Alvarez 
PS 15, Department of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara,

Fall 2024

The course teaches basic statistical techniques that are useful for describing and making inferences from data. The course also familiarizes students with R, a widely used and free statistical platform for analyzing data. By the end of the course, students should be able to understand and critique research, and perform basic statistical analyses in R. The goal of the course is to understand the process social scientists use to test theories and discover patterns in data.

Introduction to Research in Political Science

Teaching Assistant

Professor Cesar Benshuni Martinez-Alvarez 
PS 15, Department of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara,

Winter 2024

The course teaches basic statistical techniques that are useful for describing and making inferences from data. The course also familiarizes students with R, a widely used and free statistical platform for analyzing data. By the end of the course, students should be able to understand and critique research, and perform basic statistical analyses in R. The goal of the course is to understand the process social scientists use to test theories and discover patterns in data.

Comparative Political Economy of the Energy Transition

Teaching Assistant

Professor Paasha Mahdavi

Fall 2023 

This class is an introduction to the political economy of energy and environment through the lens of climate policy and the clean energy transition. We will primarily examine how politics shapes and is shaped by the energy transition, both in the United States and across a variety of sovereign contexts, ranging from emerging to advanced authoritarian or democratic countries and tribal nations. Readings will be drawn from the political science subfields of American Politics, Comparative Politics, and International Relations, along with media articles, case studies, podcasts, and policy memos and briefings from leading energy NGOs and research institutions. There are four learning objectives for this course. First, students will develop a basic comprehension of the energy transition and its political implications. Second, students will gain a detailed understanding of the international relations of climate politics, specifically how political science theories and ideas can be applied to understand global climate agreements and international trade. Third, students will acquire literacy in how business—the fossil fuel industry in particular—plays a role in domestic energy and environmental politics. Lastly, students will learn the tools and skills necessary to critically evaluate climate policies and future political dimensions of the energy transition.

Introduction to Research in Political Science

Teaching Assistant

Professor Leah Stokes
PS 15, Department of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara,

Winter 2023

The course teaches basic statistical techniques that are useful for describing and making inferences from data. The course also familiarizes students with R, a widely used and free statistical platform for analyzing data. By the end of the course, students should be able to understand and critique research, and perform basic statistical analyses in R. The goal of the course is to understand the process social scientists use to test theories and discover patterns in data.

Individual Research
POLS 199RA, professor Paasha Mahdavi & EGAPE Lab
Spring 2023

The goal of the project is to determine the effectiveness of automated text analysis in identifying the disclosure of key indicators according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) proposed rules. The project is a cross-validation step in an already completed automated analysis of 10-K forms that companies are required to submit to the SEC at the end of each year. The cross-validation step allows to check the accuracy of the automated analysis by comparing it to partially automated and manual coding. Students assist in coding firms' filings according to the SEC's climate disclosure rules and learn about the general use of content analysis (automated and human-coded) as a measurement strategy in political science.

Comparative Environmental Politics 

Teaching Assistant

POL 177, Dr. Lorelei Moosbrugger

Summer 2023