Updated: September 25, 2009

Education

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Ph.D.
  Political Science (expected, 2012)
  • Major Field: Comparative Politics
  • Minor Field: Methods, Population Studies
• M.A.
  Political Science (2009)
  • Thesis: “The Emergence of Three Worlds of Welfare”
  • Committee: John D. Stephens (Chair), David Brady, and Evelyne Huber

Cornell University

• B.A.
  Government, with Distinction (2005)

Research Interests

Welfare States, Political Economy, Demography, Methods

Honors and Awards

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• 2009
  Predoctoral Traineeship at the Carolina Population Center for 2009–2010
• 2008
  Summer Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship for Swedish

Cornell University

• 2005
  Admitted to Phi Beta Kappa, Theta of New York Chapter
• 2005
  Admitted to Pi Sigma Alpha, Alpha Beta Eta Chapter

Papers in Preparation

• Danforth, Benjamin T. “The Determinants of Social-Insurance Generosity in 18 OECD Countries.”

Academic Experience

Teaching

• 2009
  Teaching Assistant, POLI 238: Contemporary Latin American Politics
• 2008
  Teaching Assistant, POLI 100: Introduction to Government in the United States
• 2008
  Grader, POLI 431: African Politics and Society
• 2007
  Grader, POLI 150: International Relations and World Politics

Administration

• 2006 – 2007
  Assistant Web Programmer, World Learning (Brattleboro, VT)
• 2005 – 2006
  Presidential Intern (Web Development), American University in Cairo (Cairo, Egypt)

Professional Service

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• 2009 – Present
  Senator, Graduate and Professional Student Federation
• 2009 – Present
  Member, 91st Student Congress

Professional Membership

• American Political Science Association
• Population Association of America

Methods Training

• Statistics I & II
• Generalized Linear Models
• Game Theory
• Time Series
• Bayesian Statistics

Language Skills

• Swedish: Proficient
• Colloquial Egyptian Arabic: Basic

Computer Skills

• Statistical Packages: R, BUGS, and Stata
• Web: XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, ColdFusion, PHP, MySQL, and SQL
• Applications: LaTeX, OpenOffice, MS Office
• Operating Systems: Mac OS X, Unix/Linux, Windows

Professional Reference

John D. Stephens
Gerhard E. Lenski, Jr., Distinguished
Professor of Political Science and Sociology
Center for European Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Phone: (919) 962-4634
Fax: (919) 962-2429