Maranda Joyce

Major Field: American Politics
Dissertation Committee Chair: Melissa Marschall
Website

Maranda is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Rice University with a focus in political behavior. Her research investigates the sources and consequences of anti-democratic political behavior among members of the mass public. She is particularly focused on anti-democratic behavior in the context of US local politics, studying withdrawal from public institutions and rising violence directed against local politicians. In her job market paper, Maranda investigates withdrawal from public schools through homeschooling. Using original state-representative survey data and newly collected demographics of local school leadership, she finds that families are more likely to homeschool when public schools serve higher numbers of nonwhite students, especially in resource-constrained settings. In her other work, Maranda explores the costs of high-conflict school board meetings on local governance and how race and gender shape public opinion regarding political violence against local elected officials. To advance her research agenda, she leverages a range of quantitative methods, including survey experiments, large-N observational analysis, machine learning, and audit studies. Maranda has served as an instructor of record, teaching research methods to undergraduate political science students. She has also served as a mentor for students conducting public policy research. She is eager to teach a variety of courses in political behavior, policy, and research methods. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs and a BA in Economics from Southwestern University. You can read more about Maranda’s research and teaching at marandaljoyce.github.io

Tabitha Koch

Major Field: American Politics
Dissertation Committee Chair: Leslie Schwindt-Bayer
Website

Tabitha is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at Rice University specializing in American Politics. She studies women in politics with a focus on institutions, with work examining women politicians in Congress, state legislatures, and local offices. Her dissertation researches constituents’ expectations of women representatives, and investigates how women members of Congress adapt their representational styles to combat voter stereotypes. In particular, she explores whether women can leverage an important institutional position, committee assignments, to increase approval and competency evaluations among voters on nonstereotypical issues areas. In her work, she uses large-N data on House members’ committees, newsletters, and public approval, as well as original experiments. Her dissertation has been funded by Rice’s Social Science Research Institute through its pre-dissertation improvement grant and by the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality’s Graduate Certificate Program. Tabitha is passionate about mentoring students, and has had the opportunity to help students develop their writing and research skills in her multiple semesters working as a coach for Rice’s interdisciplinary First-Year Writing Intensive Seminar (FWIS) program and as instructor of record for Gender and Politics in fall 2025. This academic year she will teach courses on American Government and U.S. Congress as well as courses on Women, Leadership, and Power and Political Representation for the FWIS program. Her work has been published in Perspectives on Politics. You can read more about Tabitha’s research and teaching at sites.google.com/view/tabitha-koch.

Asahi Obata

Major Field: Comparative Politics
Dissertation Committee Chair: Randolph Stevenson
Website

Asahi is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Rice University, specializing in the intersection of political behavior and comparative politics. Her research investigates how interactions with government institutions shape political participation, with a particular focus on persons with disabilities. In her job market paper, Asahi examines how government benefits decisions affect electoral turnout in the United States and the Netherlands, noting that disabled individuals are disproportionately subject to high-stakes interactions with state agencies. Grounded in the policy feedback framework, she theorizes that rejection generates negative affective responses toward state institutions, eroding political trust and external efficacy, and ultimately depressing subsequent participation. In her other work, Asahi expands this framework to the broader (non-disabled) population, examining how routine, everyday interactions with the state, such as waiting in line to renew a driver's license, accumulate into a broader orientation toward government that influences political participation. To advance her research agenda, she leverages a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative fieldwork with quantitative tools such as large-N observational analysis and original surveys. Her research has been supported by Rice University's Expanding Horizons Fellowship, as well as the Social Science Research Institute's Dissertation Research Improvement Grant and Pre-Dissertation Research Grant. Asahi is committed to mentoring students and cultivating inclusive classroom environments where students from all backgrounds, identities, and learning needs feel supported and empowered. She is prepared to teach courses in Comparative Politics, Political Behavior, and Disability and Politics.

Trang Thi Thao Huynh

Major Field: International Relations
Dissertation Committee Chair: Ashley Leeds
Website

Trang is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Rice University, studying international relations and foreign policy analysis. Her dissertation examines how third-party states manage relations with rival external partners, with a focus on the strategic maneuvers of emerging economies and autocratic governments amid the US-China great-power competition. In particular, she explores the conditions under which these groups of countries can leverage China's economic and security cooperation to gain bargaining power over the US, and vice versa. Beyond generalizable theories, Trang also investigates country cases in Southeast Asia, namely the Philippines and Vietnam. Her research adopts a wide range of quantitative methods, including large-N observational analysis, survey experiments, and text analysis. Trang aspires to be a teacher who not only imparts knowledge but also serves as a mentor who understands students as whole persons, including their goals, experiences, and challenges. She has acquired the Certificate in Teaching and Learning from Rice University and is currently serving as an instructor of record for Practicum in College Teaching in Fall 2026 and Spring 2027. She is prepared to teach courses in international relations, foreign policy analysis, and quantitative methods for social sciences. You can find more information about Trang at https://sites.google.com/rice.edu/trangthuynh/about.