MPE Program Co-Directors
Mariely López-Santana
Co-Director
Mariely López-Santana is an Associate Professor of Political Science at George Mason University. Dr. López-Santana received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan and her BA from the University of Puerto Rico. Prior to joining George Mason University, she was Max Weber Post-Doctoral Fellow at the European University Institute (Florence, Italy). Dr. López-Santana’s research and teaching interests focus on comparative politics of advanced democracies, federalism, welfare states, and social policies. Her research has appeared in a variety of venues, including Publius, Journal of European Public Policy, SUNY Press, and Journal of Social Policy.Dr. Lopez-Santana is part of the editorial team of Regional and Federal Studies, the book review editor for Publius: The Journal of Federalism, and a member of the Executive Board Member of the Comparative Federalism and Multilevel Governance Section (Research Committee 28) from the International Political Science Association. She was the past director of both the Schar School's MA and PhD programs in Political Science. For more information about Dr. Mariely López-Santana's work, publications, and academic contributions, please visit her personal website listed here; marielylopezsantana.weebly.com
CO-DIRECTOR
Fernando Tormos-Aponte is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. Previously, he was a Kendall Fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and a Visiting Scholar at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Cambridge. He earned his MA and PhD in Political Science from Purdue University, West Lafayette, and a BA from the Universidad de Puerto Rico—Río Piedras. Dr. Tormos-Aponte specializes in social movements, identity politics, social policy, and transnational politics. His research focuses on how social movements cope with internal divisions and gain political influence. Tormos-Aponte’s work has appeared in Science Advances, American Political Science Review, Current Opinions in Environmental Sustainability, Energy Policy, Social Science Quarterly, Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, CENTRO Journal, Contention,Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Politics, Groups, and Identities, Environmental Policy and Governance, Public Administration Review, Social Politics, Alternautas, PS: Political Science and Politics. His public writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Nueva Sociedad, Jacobin, In These Times, Undisciplined Environments, and Latino Rebels.
Kimberly Turner
CO-DIRECTOR
Kimberly Turner is an Assistant Professor of International Affairs. Prior to joining University of Pittsburgh, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute, and an International Security postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center. Dr. Turner received her PhD in political science from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Her research focuses on political violence and peace science. Her substantive work examines the causes and outcomes of mass movements. Her methodological research seeks to develop new measures of non-violent resistance efficacy. Dr. Turner work sits at the intersection of comparative politics and international political science. Her dissertation analyzed the linkages between skilled labor’s employment and wage grievance to the onset and outcomes of contentious politics within authoritarian settings. Dr. Turner's work has been published in the Journal of Peace Research, American Political Science Association, Social Science Quarterly, Duck of Minerva, and the Global Post.
Mayra Vélez Serrano
CO-DIRECTOR
Mayra Vélez Serrano is the Chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. Her research and teaching interests include comparative politics, regional integration, public opinion, and social media. She is the co-founder of the Puerto Rican Public Opinion Lab (LabPOP), the only academic institution collecting high-quality public opinion data in Puerto Rico. She is also the co-founder of the Minority Graduate Placement Program (MIGAP), a pipeline initiative for undergraduate political science students from the University of Puerto Rico, a Minority Serving Institution (MSI), who are interested in applying to political science PhD programs. Her work has appeared in Political Research Quarterly, PS: Politics and Political Science, World Review of Political Economy, Revista Ámbitos de Encuentro, Revista de Relaciones Internacionales, and Caribbean Studies. She is also a contributor for El Nuevo Día and Radio Universidad.