Academic
I am currently a graduate student in the Political Science department at Duke University in Durham, NC. My research areas within American politics are public opinion, voting behavior, and race and politics. I have passed my qualifying exams and am currently composing my dissertation prospectus. Before coming to Duke I completed my B.A. at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania and then attended Vanderbilt University for two years earning Masters degrees in Political Science and Social and Political Thought. Currently, I am a research assistant to Professor John Aldrich.
Research
I am currently working on several projects. The first is on values, partisanship and political ideology. This research uses measures of universal values and perceptions of partisanship to illustrate polarization on the most fundamental levels. A second paper I'm working on has to do wtih the causal link between political and theological conservatism. Finally, I'm working on a project to isolate the causal interaction between perceptions of poverty, symbolic racism, and notions of the "deserving poor." I have put together a tutorial for using LaTeX with APSR style citations, it is available here. For a more complete profile of my academic research and contact information please see my C.V.
Personal
Originally from Erie, Pennsylvania, I now live in Old North Durham with my wonderful wife, Melissa Spas, (pictured with me at left) and our dog. When not working, I enjoy running, photography, cooking and fixing things around our house.
