Chano Arreguin-Abarca
Areas of Specialization: American Politics, Public Opinion, Political Behavior, Experimental Methods, Political Psychology, Evolutionary Social Science
Dissertation Advisor: John R. Alford
Chano Arreguin is a PhD candidate studying American politics with a focus on mass opinion and behavior. His dissertation combines a decision-theoretic model with lab and survey experiments to evaluate the conditions under which voters can hold elected officials accountable for their actions. Chano’s dissertation shows how the extent of incumbent responsibility for policy outcomes influences political accountability. His argument is that in noisy settings where it is hard to attribute responsibility, members of the public rely less on performance and more on shared social identities to evaluate politicians. This project is supported by Rice University’s Social Sciences Research Institute. Chano also has a secondary interest in evolutionary social science and has published in Politics and the Life Sciences. Chano is prepared to teach advanced courses in political behavior, political psychology, behavioral political science, experiments, and statistical data analysis. He has served as an Instructor for Quantitative Analysis for Social Science and as a teaching assistant for Introduction to American Government and American Elections. Chano has also completed an accredited certificate of teaching at Rice’s Center for Teaching Excellence.
Gonzalo Di Landro
Areas of Interest: Comparative Politics, Gender and Politics, Representation, Political Behavior, Political Parties
Dissertation Advisor: Diana Z. O’Brien (co-chair), Randolph T. Stevenson (co-chair)
Gonzalo Di Landro is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science specializing in Comparative Politics. He conducts research on Gender and Politics, with a focus on party behavior and mass political behavior in Western democracies. His dissertation builds on theories of the political economy of gender inequality, uncovering the role of political parties, particularly their gender-egalitarian labor market policies, in driving gender differences in vote choice in Western Europe. To that end, his work leverages large-N and experimental research designs. Gonzalo has taught Comparative Politics and will teach Representation in Contemporary Democracies in the spring of 2025. He is prepared to teach courses on Gender and Politics, Comparative Political Behavior and Parties, and Research Design. His dissertation has been supported by Rice’s Social Science Research Institute through its pre-dissertation and dissertation improvement grants and by the American Political Science Association's Centennial Center. He was a Junior Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford and Sciences Po in 2024. His work is forthcoming in the British Journal of Political Science and in Legislative Studies Quarterly.
Gustavo Guajardo
Areas of Interest: Comparative Politics, corruption, accountability, electoral institutions, representation, legislative studies, Latin America
Dissertation Advisor: Leslie A. Schwindt-Bayer
Gustavo Guajardo is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Politics and will defend his dissertation in Spring 2025. His research agenda broadly studies how corruption and accountability intersect with electoral institutions, legislative behavior, and representation, with a regional focus in Latin America. Gustavo uses a combination of large-n observational data analysis, causal inference, natural experiments, and elite interviews from fieldwork to study the strategic calculus of anticorruption reform efforts. His dissertation uses the first systematic data collection of anticorruption initiatives introduced to Latin American legislatures to show that politicians weigh the benefits and drawbacks of anticorruption reform, promoting policies that will win them votes without threatening their political careers and rents. Gustavo’s work has been published or is forthcoming in the American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, and has been invited to resubmit to Legislative Studies Quarterly. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and Rice University’s Social Science Research Institute. Gustavo is prepared to teach courses in Comparative Political Institutions, Latin American Politics, Mexican politics, Corruption in Politics, and Research Design.
Gladys Zubiria
Areas of Interest: Peace and Conflict Studies, International Relations, Civil Wars, Conflict Resolution, Women’s Representation, Rebel Reintegration
Dissertation Advisor: T. Clifton Morgan
Gladys Zubiría is a Ph.D. candidate in International Relations. Her research focuses on peace and conflict studies, particularly on understanding the determinants of peace sustainability and the political reintegration of rebel groups after civil wars. In her dissertation, Gladys employs cross-national data and survey experiments to analyze the impact of third-party strategies during conflicts on ex-combatant reintegration and public perceptions of the peace processes. She examines the long-term effect of economic sanctions, the effect of women’s involvement in the negotiation process, and the inclusion of women’s issues in the peace agreements. The Colombian Civil War is central to her research interests; she has fieldwork experience involving ex-combatants and civil society actors in Colombia. Gladys has published work on the use of violence against civilians during the conflict, as well as on rebel group members’ perceptions of reintegration processes following the peace agreement with FARC. Gladys is a Fulbright grantee, and her research has been supported by the Social Sciences Research Institute and the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at Rice University. She has teaching experience with students from diverse backgrounds and is a passionate instructor capable of teaching courses on International Relations, Civil Wars, and Conflict Resolution.