Lois Matthew is a PhD student in the Department of Government, specializing in comparative politics, with a minor in international relations and methods. Her research focuses on democratization, authoritarian legacies, parties, elections, and voting behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Paul Caruso is a first-year MPA student at the Brooks School of Public Policy. Paul’s concentration is in Government, Politics, and Policy Studies, focusing on international affairs and peace studies. He is the President and Founder of the Cornell Negotiation Student Society and leads workshops on conflict resolution. Paul achieved his bachelor’s in international studies and legal studies at the School of International Service at American University, during which time he concentrated on peace, global security, and conflict resolution. 

Degree Pursued: PhD

Anticipated Degree Year: 2028-29

Primary Language: Indonesian

Research Countries: Indonesia

Research Interests: Natural resource governance, energy transitions, food commoning, land and resource grabbing

Degree Pursued: PhD

Anticipated Degree Year: 2028-29

Committee Chair/Advisor: Thomas Pepinsky

Discipline: Political Science

Primary Language: Arakanese, Burmese

Research Countries: TBD

Research Interests: Regime Changes, Political violence, Contentious Politics, Authoritarianism,
Democratic Backsliding, and Rebel Politics.

Degree Pursued: PhD

Committee Chair/Advisor: Anne Blackburn

Primary Language: Chinese, French, Thai 

Research Countries: Myanmar

Research Interests: Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, Konbaung Empire, Pali/Sanskrit Cosmopolis

Carmine Couloute is a PhD student in the Department of Government, concentrating in International Relations and Political Theory.

Her doctoral studies will ethnographically examine the enduring impact of French colonialism in Francophone West Africa. She aims to explore how telecommunications boycotts and protests over 'war taxes' facilitate practices of sovereignty and self-determination during political upheaval.

Alican Taylan, MArch, MEng, is a Ph.D. student in the History of Architecture and Urban Development (HAUD) at Cornell University, where he studies nineteenth-century environmental and colonial history. His dissertation committee is co-chaired by Esra Akcan and María González Pendás (HAUD), and Aaron Sachs (History) is his third committee member. Recently, he curated Strategic Landforms (2024) at Cornell AAP, an exhibition about French military architectural production in Senegal over the nineteenth century.

Victoria E. Pihl Sørensen is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Performing and Media Arts. Her doctoral research examines population control and eugenics in Danish popular culture from an anti-racist feminist point of view. She holds an MA in Women’s and Gender Studies from the CUNY Graduate Center. She recently published "'In Women’s Hands': Feminism, Eugenics, and Race in Interwar Denmark" (2023), in the feminist journal Women, Gender & Research.

Esam Boraey is a PhD student in Government, specializing in Comparative Politics and Political Economy with a regional focus on the Middle East. His research explores the intersection of authoritarianism, social movements, and economic development, particularly how state structures and societal norms shape political and economic outcomes in the region. Esam is especially interested in the political economy of reform, the role of civil society, and the dynamics of post-uprising transitions.

Salvador Ernesto Pineda is a second-year MBA student at Cornell University and holds an MA In Latin American Studies from Georgetown University.