Major: Economics
Minor: Political Science; Modern Languages (Spanish & German)
Hometown: Scarsdale, NY
Thesis Advisor: Chonira Aturupane

Tentative Thesis Title: Comparing the Effect of Chinese and American Aid on Corruption in Latin America

Future aspirations post-Stanford: After graduation, my plan is to work in public sector consulting, preferably at the state and local level. After that, I'd like to go to graduate school to best leverage my skills in development economics, likely in or adjacent to the public sector. 

A fun fact about yourself: My first quarter as a CDDRL Honors student will be spent in Santiago, Chile, where I’ll be doing primary source research into Chilean politics and history.

Major: Political Science   
Minor: Economics
Hometown: Cozumel, Mexico
Thesis Advisor: James Fearon

Tentative Thesis Title: Making Friends with the Enemy: A Study of Cooperation Between Drug Cartels and Local Politicians in Mexico

Future aspirations post-Stanford: After Stanford, I hope to pursue a PhD in political science focusing on Latin American politics and Economic development. My dream is to return to my home country of Mexico and help create a better future for all my fellow citizens. I am unsure whether this would be through academia, journalism, or public office, but I am excited to see what the future holds. Above all, I hope to follow the footsteps of academics and reporters who have devoted their lives to improving conditions in Latin America.

A fun fact about yourself: I am obsessed with the Nobel Prize in Literature. I can name half of the people who have won the award at the top of my head and in my free time, I always read as many laureates as I can (currently at 40 out of 117).

Ukraine’s 17th Prime Minister (August 2019 – March 2020). In just 5 months Mr. Honcharuk initiated important changes that other Ukrainian politicians had not dared to do for years (launched of large and small privatization processes, started of land market implementation, conducted Naftogaz unbundling, started combating shade markets –– illegal gambling houses and petrol stations were closed, launched of Anti-Raider (illegal seizure of business or property) Office that would react within just 24 hours to any cases of such illegal seizure, etc).

Before he served as a Deputy Head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine and was a member of the National Reforms Council under the President of Ukraine. Previously for more than ten years, Mr. Honcharuk has been working in the legal sphere. He has established a reputation as a strong professional and qualified specialist. Mr. Honcharuk is also known as a strong fighter for business community rights. 2005-2008, he worked as a lawyer at PRIOR-Invest investment company and later on headed its legal department. During 2008-2015, he worked as an arbitration manager and managing partner at Constructive Lawyers, a law firm he had founded, which provided legal services in the field of investment and financing real estate construction.

From 2015-2019, Oleksiy Honcharuk headed Better Regulation Delivery Office non-governmental organization (BRDO). Among his achievements as the head of the BRDO was the cancellation of around 1000 Government acts and adoption of more than 50 decisions, facilitating activity of business in Ukraine. Oleksiy Honcharuk also served as an external advisor to the First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.

Oleksiy Honcharuk has a degree in law from Interregional Academy of Personal Management and in Public Administration from National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine. He was born on July 7, 1984, in Zhmerynka, Vinnytsia region.

Marisa Kellam researches the quality of democracy with a focus on Latin America and a growing interest in East Asia. Her research links institutional analysis to various governance outcomes in democracies along three lines of inquiry: political parties and coalitional politics; mass electoral behavior and party system change; and democratic accountability and media freedom. She has published her research in various peer-reviewed journals, including The British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Party Politics, Electoral Studies, and Political Communication. Originally from Santa Rosa, California, Marisa Kellam earned her Ph.D. in political science from UCLA and spent several years as an assistant professor at Texas A&M University. Since 2013, she has been Associate Professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, where she also served as Director of the English-based degree programs for the School of Political Science & Economics. Currently she is a steering committee member for the V-Dem Regional Center for East Asia.

I received my PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, where I was also a Research Associate at the Center on the Politics of Development. Broadly, my research interests encompass the political economy of development of Latin America and of sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, I study questions concerning crime, human capital, immigration, and policing in developing countries. I am from San Salvador, El Salvador.

I am a teaching fellow in Civic, Liberal, and Global Education (COLLEGE) at Stanford University. I teach courses focused on democracy, citizenship, and the politics of development. My research focuses on party systems, ideology, nostalgia, and corruption during transitions from authoritarian rule, especially in North Africa. My book manuscript focuses on the question of why democratization in Tunisia failed to address the social and economic grievances that precipitated it. My work has appeared in the Journal of Democracy, MERIP Middle East Report Online, and Washington Post Monkey Cage. 

I received my PhD in political science (with specialties in comparative politics, quantitative methods, and political economy) from Yale University in December 2020. I have a BA in international relations from Tufts University, an MS in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University, and an MA and MPhil in political science from Yale. I have spent more than three years living in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. My CV is available here.