Application links available to undergraduates subscribed to the Schar listserv
Project 1: Taiwan Security Monitor
Professor: Michael A Hunzeker
Description: I am running a project that uses open-source intelligence to better understand the cross-Strait military balance. To pull this off, I need a small team of RAs who can help me monitor open-source intelligence (including, but not limited to, news reports, official statements, social media feeds, think tank reports, online imagery, maps, etc.); maintain and update our public facing website and social media feed; develop data visualization products; and produce timely background reports and memos
Duties: Data collection; Coding (data entry);Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Writing literature summaries; Library research; Translation;
NECESSARY Skills: Potential RAs should be interested in East Asian security and/or military affairs; and they must be responsible, reliable, and able to work independently.
DESIRABLE Skills: A military background, familiarity with military terminology, Mandarin language skills, web design, data visualization, and/or AI are all desirable (but certainly not required)
Project 2: At Risk: Democratic Culture and Control in a Boarding School for At-Risk Youth
Professor: Christopher D. Berk
Description: I am currently writing a book titled *At Risk*, which examines the persistence of social disadvantage across generations and the politics of efforts to repair it through “total institutions.” The book largely focuses on the experiences and conditions of Gen Z youth.
Duties: Writing literature summaries; Library research; Proofreading, editing, and/or manuscript preparation; Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data;
NECESSARY Skills: None.
DESIRABLE Skills: Finding data is a kind of treasure hunt -- you'll need to work with an incomplete map and finishing the task often requires sequential puzzle solving. (What does information 'X' look like? If information 'X' is not located here, then where else might it be? Who might know? If 'X' is not available, perhaps it can be reconstructed from information 'Y' and 'Z'. And so on.) No prior experience is necessary, but I want to find a research assistant that is dedicated to the hunt! Familiarity with online library databases, prior independent research experience, and a keen eye for copy-editing errors are all desirable for this position
Project 3: Manuscript support for "The Social Capitol"
Professor: Jennifer N. Victor
Description: I'm looking for students to support my book manuscript in progress. The book examines the many ways that Members of Congress cultivate political capital through their relationships and connections with one another. Student may help with background research, editing, data visualization, or other tasks.
Duties: Data collection; Writing literature summaries; Library research; Support in statistical analysis, writing code, scraping data, etc.; Proofreading, editing, and/or manuscript preparation;
NECESSARY Skills: Strong writing and analytical skills
DESIRABLE Skills: Familiarity with the project and/or coding skills.
Project 4: Caucus Explorer database
Professor: Jennifer N. Victor
Description: Students will help maintain the database and web application for Caucus Explorer, a web interface for learning about memberships in congressional caucuses.
Duties: Coding (data entry);Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Support in statistical analysis, writing code, scraping data, etc.;
NECESSARY Skills: Coding skills (R, Shiny R, MySQL, Python), web development (AWS, GitHub), and/or user interface design.
DESIRABLE Skills: Fearlessness
Project 5: Examining Contracting Coursework
Professor: Jessica Terman
Description: Research assistants will manually qualitatively code data and then use software packages, reconciling their findings with one another. They will also write literature summaries and reviews based on research related to their findings.
Duties: Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Coding (data entry);Data collection; Writing literature summaries;
NECESSARY Skills: Excel, Word knowledge, experience with literature review formatting and writing.
DESIRABLE Skills: Have taken GOVT 300
Project 6: Justice Community Overdose Innovation Network: Implementation Studies
Professor: Jessica Terman
Description: The study involves a systematic review which is to review studies of implementation of reforms in criminal justice settings, code the studies, and synethesize findings. The student will work with a team to include a masters student, a researcher, and practitioner to code the studies and decide what type of implementation efforts went into putting in the place with the reform. The student will also work on a poster of study findings for a national conference.
Duties: Data collection; Coding (data entry);Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Writing literature summaries; Library research; Support in conducting interviews, arranging appointments for interviews, or logistics related to research of this kind; Translation; Proofreading, editing, and/or manuscript preparation;
NECESSARY Skills: Thirst for knowledge about what implementation strategies are useful in reforming practices and policies.
DESIRABLE Skills: Self-driven, takes initiative, willing to work in a team.
Project 7: The Uncertain Voice of America
Professor: Eric Max Mcglinchey
Description: This URAP project explores the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the US Agency for Global Media and its constituent international broadcasters: Voice of America, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. This dismantling effort is puzzling given that, historically, these international broadcasters have been central to US foreign policy and public diplomacy.
Duties: Data collection; Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Writing literature summaries; Library research; Support in conducting interviews, arranging appointments for interviews, or logistics related to research of this kind;
NECESSARY Skills: Proficiency--or demonstrated willingness to develop proficiency--in identifying, cataloging, and analyzing government documents will facilitate successful participation in this URAP project.
DESIRABLE Skills: Language proficiency in any of the 64 languages in which the US Agency for Global Media conducts international broadcasts.
Project 8: Climate, Culture and Policy Reform Lab: Case studies of climate change effects on cultural heritage sites in the United States
Professor: Todd LaPorte
Description: Climate, Culture and Policy Reform Lab: Case studies of climate change effects on cultural heritage sites in the United States
Become a member of the Climate, Culture and Policy Reform Lab! The Lab has been running for two years, has a dozen student and former student members and is looking to expand. Here’s a short summary of what the Lab is doing:
Cultural heritage has come to be recognized as tangible representations and intangible practices that communities nurture and affirm. These practices are essential for community survival, particularly in the face of rapid economic, social and environmental change.
Communities ratify cultural artifacts and iconic practices as central to community identity: they create monuments, parks and museums, but also protected areas, forest and agricultural regions and wildlife reserves, as well as festivals, community celebrations and the like.
For example, the United States has over 429 national parks sites, nearly 7,000 state parks, countless regional food cultures, and innumerable activities that bring together communities, affirm their identities and reenforce their meaning.
And there are hundreds of federally recognized (and many unrecognized) Native American Indian tribes that have had cultural heritage and environmental change challenges since the arrival of Europeans on North American shores.
But despite their widely accepted value, many cultural sites, practices and communities are under threat from climate-related change. Heritage sites are like canaries in the mineshaft, indicators of environmental and community health:
What if there are no longer glaciers in Glacier National Park? What if the water is too warm in the Chesapeake for iconic crabs to grow? What if wildfires in California make Napa Valley wines too smokey? What if sacred Indian lands are inundated by sea-level rise or destroyed by mining or well-drilling? What if maple syrup can’t be produced in Vermont because maple trees can no longer grow there??
This project seeks to learn about these conflicts, which may help us understand opportunities to encourage climate action.
URAP students will help create data records of heritage sites and climate threats in the United States. Students will prepare 4-6 summaries of climate challenges to heritage sites (e.g. National Registry of Historic Places, state and national parks, tribal lands, iconic food and drink). Summaries will include information on climate risks, on sites' cultural significance, on response plans, and contact information for site supervisors.
Students *must* be able to join weekly lab meetings, to be held on Monday or Friday afternoons, specific date and time TBD.
Posters on your research will be required for the URAP research fair. Course credit is limited to 3 units only. Unlimited number of students can join.
Summaries will help answer:
- What is the cultural significance of selected sites?
- What are the climate threats to them?
- What plans have been developed to respond?
- What resources do managers need to execute plans?
Duties: Data collection; Library research; Writing literature summaries; Support in conducting interviews, arranging appointments for interviews, or logistics related to research of this kind
NECESSARY Skills: Strong general research skills: Library, Internet, AI
DESIRABLE Skills: N/A
Project 09: Killed Abroad: American Civilian Casualties and The U.S. Response
Professor: Jeremy Mayer
Description: Primarily using a State Department database, we will count U.S. citizens killed overseas by the domestic police or military forces or non-state actors in foreign countries. What regions and nations are most deadly? And what types of deaths abroad are most likely to get an official governmental response from the United States? The responses will be searched out in open sources. The product will ultimately be a published peer reviewed scholarly article.
Duties: Data collection; Coding (data entry);Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Writing literature summaries; Library research; Proofreading, editing, and/or manuscript preparation
NECESSARY Skills: Must be good with data bases, SPSS or Excel I think. And good at research generally.
DESIRABLE Skills: Eventually statistical chops would be useful, but I have some and could bring in a coauthor as necessary
Project 10: The Principle of 'Less Eligibility' in Prison Reform
Professor: Christopher Berk
Description: I’m looking to hire undergraduate research assistants to support two ongoing papers on the principle of “less eligibility” in criminal justice. Students will work closely with me either to develop high-quality annotated bibliographies—identifying, summarizing, and organizing key scholarly sources—or to assist with managing and analyzing survey-experiment data. These projects explore how the public thinks about fairness, punishment, and social welfare, offering a chance to engage directly with both political theory and empirical research.
Duties: Data collection; Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Writing literature summaries; Library research; Support in administering experiments, recruiting subjects, or other promotions to the undergraduate population
NECESSARY Skills: None.
DESIRABLE Skills: No prior experience is required, though strong writing skills and an interest in data analysis are a plus.
Project 11: History of 1990s Western Aid to Eastern Europe - Contemporary European History
Professor: Janine Wedel
Description: In this project you will work with the scholar who conducted ethnographic research in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Ukraine in the 1990s on foreign aid policies and outcomes after the end of Communism. You help me examine how oligarchs that arose from this period and how they accompanying developments changed history.
Duties: Data collection; Coding (data entry);Writing literature summaries; Library research; Support in conducting interviews, arranging appointments for interviews, or logistics related to research of this kind; Proofreading, editing, and/or manuscript preparation
NECESSARY Skills: Must be very well organized- organized, very responsible, and easy to work with.
DESIRABLE Skills: Library or archival experience; Russian language ability
Project 12: Political Violence and Authoritarian Attitudes in Africa
Professor: Philip A Martin
Description: This research project investigates the relationship between violence and changes in political values in Africa. Of specific interest is the link between violence against elected politicians in Africa and the adoption of more authoritarian attitudes by the public. To examine this link systematically, the project will seek to compile a database of violence against politicians in Africa, which will ultimately be linked with citizen survey data. Research assistants will be expected to assist in the collection and preparation of the database using online news sources, and the merging of this data with existing surveys.
Duties: Data collection; Coding (data entry);Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data
NECESSARY Skills: The URA should be able to independently conduct searches of online news sources and identify and code relevant information on the basis of a coding guide. Strong organizational skills are necessary.
DESIRABLE Skills: It is desirable that the URA has some familiarity with African politics and/or conflict and peace research.
Project 13: Truth Machines: Technology, Geniuses, and How to Win the Information War
Professor: Justin Gest
Description: The most flawed market in the world today is the market for information — where high-value information is increasingly difficult to sell. Today, if you really want the truth, you have to work for it or pay for it.
Duties: Data collection; Writing literature summaries; Support in administering experiments, recruiting subjects, or other promotions to the undergraduate population
NECESSARY Skills: Creativity; Critical and Strategic Thinking; Writing Skills; Familiarity with AI
DESIRABLE Skills: Experience with and Coursework on AI and computer science
Project 14: Knowledge Production Project - Middle East
Professor: Bassam Haddad
Description: The Knowledge Production Project provides five interactive search and data visualization tools that give users unprecedented access to our vast databases and generate insight into the ways in which information about the Middle East is created and disseminated.
Duties: Data collection; Coding (data entry);Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Writing literature summaries; Library research; Join the KPP Podcast Team, "Search Files!"
NECESSARY Skills: Data Research and Collection, Analyzing Data, Writing Summaries, Managing Spreadsheets, Podcasting Skills
DESIRABLE Skills: Social Media Knowledge and Design
Project 15: Nonprofit Organization Research Panel
Faculty: Mirae Kim
Nonprofit organizations are important contributors to the US economy and social wellbeing but lack robust, nationally representative data for research and practice. The Nonprofit Organization Research Panel (NORP) intends to fill such data gap and contributes to advancing knowledge and practice in the nonprofit sector. NORP aims to increase access to data-intensive research about nonprofit performance, and lead to more scientifically informed decision-making by nonprofit organizations, policymakers, and funders.
NORP project URA(s) will participate in administering periodic online surveys, and creating survey reports. During the process, URA(s) will learn about how to manage an online research panel, which has increasingly become popular tool for data collection, as well as how to conduct an online survey with nonprofit organizations. Depending on URB(s)' capacity, research assistants can also engage in marketing activities as well as website designs.
Duties include: Data collection, Coding (data entry), Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data, Support in administering experiments, recruiting subjects, or other promotions to the undergraduate population, Support in conducting interviews, arranging appointments for interviews, or logistics related to research of this kind, Proofreading, editing, and/or manuscript preparation
Familiarity with Excel spreadsheets: a basic internet search skill, attention to detail, an interest in learning about various nonprofit organizations and online panel research (including survey management) NECESSARY.
Background or experience in the nonprofit sector, high interest in learning about various nonprofits and survey methods, prior survey research experience, and a keen eye for copy-editing errors are all DESIRABLE for this position. Some website design skills would be also preferred (if available).