Fall 2007 Research Assistant Positions for PPS Majors

Thanks to funding provided by Dean Robert Thompson and the Duke Endowment, the PPS Department is able to fund research positions for PPS undergraduate majors for the 2007­2008 academic year. For the projects described below, the PPS department will provide a professor with up to $1,100 in funds to support an undergraduate RA.

Please apply directly to the person listed in the position description, providing a resume and explanation of your interest in the position.

Catherine Admay
“Grounding A Constitution: the Role of Public Spaces in Constituting a Constitutional People”

For research focused on the conscious use of architectural and artistic design of public spaces to embody constitutional principles and constitutional accountability in the South African Constitutional Court, we need to explore similar conjunctions of architecture and art for public policy ends in other countries, especially the United States.

Elizabeth Ananant
“Research on causes and consequences of U.S. inequality” (position filled)

The position will involve working with me on a variety of new and continuing research projects. These include: an extension of current research on the effect of racial segregation on school disparities; launching a new project on child care quality and child outcomes; ongoing work on the effect of access to birth control on women's and children's outcomes; ongoing work on the effect of economic downturns on nonmarital births; and a new project on interracial contact in extracurricular high­school activities. Qualifications: Experience with Excel (required); willingness to make phone calls (required); willingness to learn Stata (preferred); course in statistics/econometrics (preferred). Tasks will include (depending on experience and interests): data collection and construction; data analysis; data presentation (table making, etc.); and writing of research proposals and literature reviews. Qualified candidates will be trained in Stata.

Philip Cook
“Cost of processing capital cases in North Carolina” (position filled)

In 1993 Philip Cook completed a study of the costs of capital punishment in North Carolina, finding that capital cases imposed extra costs (net) of $4 million per year on the state and county governments. But this study is now out of date as a result of numerous changes in procedural and sentencing rules, as well as changes in the flow of cases. Cook proposes to conduct a new study that will provide current estimates of the net costs, using data from Indigent Defense Services and other offices in North Carolina.

William Darity Jr.
“Diversifying the Academy With and Without Affirmative Action” (position filled)

As an important dimension of my larger research project on obstacles to achieving diversity in the academy, I would like to have a Research Assistant work on the following specific issue: How can colleges and universities effectively include faculty from underrepresented ethnic and racial groups by affirmative action under its narrow legal status or by not using affirmative action at all? The prospect of lack of access to affirmative action measures is foreshadowed by the passage of Proposition 209 in California and Proposition 2 in Michigan. A case can be made that both referenda do not have the same implications for faculty hiring or graduate admissions as undergraduate admissions. I would like a motivated undergraduate to work with me on resolving these issues. I anticipate jointly published work.

Kristin Goss
“Changing Agendas: Women, Citizenship, and Public Policy” (position filled)

This project examines the narrowing of women’s organizations’ policy agendas from 1880­2000.

“Community Philanthropy: Foundations' Role in Revitalizing Urban America” (position filled)

This project examines the Atlanta Partnership, a multi­pronged effort to revitalize the city in anticipation of the 1996 Olympic Games. The project will also include research on a book that I will co­author with Joel Fleishman that focuses on the role of foundations (including community foundations) in revitalizing urban areas.

Jay Hamilton
“Conservation Reserve” (position filled)

The Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers to keep land fallow. This can improve local environments in many ways. This project will involve studying how the regulations that define the program originated and have been implemented.  The research assistant will do research using the Federal Register and Congressional Record and may end up interviewing officials involved in this regulatory program.

Bill Holman
“Water­Use Permitting in NC”

North Carolina currently has a number of programs that regulate water withdrawals. Ongoing growth is increasing the pressure on water resources, though, leading some to conclude that a statewide water­use permitting program could improve state welfare (currently none of the regulatory programs involves a straightforward use of permits). Research that could usefully inform upcoming policy decisions includes surveying the current state water use permitting programs, summarizing their features and, as best possible, investigating how they have performed. This would be of broad interest.

Bruce Jentleson
“Profiles in Statesmenship” (position filled)

Project involves research on major world leaders who made historic breakthroughs in international affairs, and at great political risk. Involves analysis of the dynamics of conflict, motivations for statesmanship, process of carrying it out. Qualitative, mix of policy analysis, history, international relations, biography and leadership studies. Good research and writing skills required.

Undergraduate research funding provided support for this project the past two years, along with what I provide through my own research account. Prior students have worked on profiles of Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Yitzhak Rabin, and Anwar Sadat. This student likely would work on Sadat (only partially completed) and/or Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Judith Kelley
“Effect of International Election Monitors” (position filled)

This NFS sponsored project is on the Effect of International Election Monitors. It is putting together the largest and most comprehensive dataset of international monitoring ever. The data draws on the final reports of over 20 different international organizations, both NGOs and intergovernmental organizations from 1970­2004. The data is supplemented by case study. The project seeks to answer questions about the rise of election monitoring such as the nature of election fraud, the ability of monitoring to reduce fraud, the strategic reactions of incumbents to international monitors.

Robert Korstad
“Literature Review on Non­Violent Protest Movements in Comparative Context”

The new Duke Center for History, Public Policy and Social Change is undertaking a large, interdisciplinary, comparative study of three of the most transformative social revolutions of the 20 th century: the civil rights movement in the United States, the end of apartheid in South Africa, and the triumph of democracy in Eastern Europe.

An undergraduate research assistant would help launch this new project, starting with the creation of a bibliography of relevant literature. They will help identify the most important works and scholars, particularly in the areas of South Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe and Russia.

Anirudh Krishna
“Social Mobility Literature Review” (position filled)

This project involves conducting a literature review on Social Mobility, producing both an annotated and a thematic bibliography. Diverse literature in economics, sociology, and related fields should be consulted. The Research Assistant will assist with the professor’s research and writing on social mobility, helping make the intellectual and empirical linkages between poverty reduction and social mobility at both macro and micro levels of analysis.

Helen Ladd
“School­based accountability and other education policies” (position filled)

The research will involve a variety of projects related to school­based accountability and other education policy issues. The first project is on No Child Left Behind with particular attention to the positions and proposals of the various stakeholders in the current reauthorization legislation. A separate topic is teacher working conditions. The project involves web­based research, literature reviews, memo­writing and some analysis using spread sheets.

Michael Merson
Duke Global Health Institute (position filled)

Policy papers: The RA will help us develop our signature research initiatives by writing briefs/memos on major global health issues. aids2031: As part of this UNAIDS initiative which will look at lessons learned about the AIDS responses and stimulate new research, the RA will conduct research on HIV/AIDS science and technology and access to resources. Sub­Saharan African Health Labor Force Shortage: Private Sector Responses: In helping us plan this Fuqua conference, the RA can help build a policy component and research existing policies on human resources in Africa. Tamil Nadu Family Care Continuum Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E): DGHI provides M&E for this HIV treatment program based in India. In assessing the welfare of the participants and evaluating costs and social and economic impact, the RA will help out with the qualitative data analysis.

Gunther Peck
“Trafficks in Race: The Rise and Fall of White Slavery, 1700­Present” (position filled)

The student would investigate the spate of “sexual slavery” cases currently being prosecuted within international courts, particularly two cases in Bosnia. The student would identify all primary and secondary sources relating to the pending legal cases, as well as search online in newspaper sources for references to sexual slavery or to “white slavery” over the past decade. The research is for the final chapter of my book on the history of human trafficking and “white slavery” over the past three centuries.

Alex Pfaff
“Amazon Forest Fragmentation”

Prior work has explored statistical associations between Brazilian Amazon deforestation (at county & census­tract & pixel levels) and factors that affect agricultural profitability. Recent calculations of forest fragmentation, i.e. the spatial pattern of the standing forest, require analysis. They are within­county measures covering this immense forested area. Ecologists say that for any given amount of forest, the spatial pattern affects the habitat. Explanatory variables will include census measures at county and census tract levels. A particular interest is the implication of the spatial concentration of human activities.

Laura Roselle
“The Politics of Erasing History”

Political leaders’ attempts to remove references to, or images of, people or the details of historical events are found during various time periods and in different political systems. The Romans, for example, called this sanctioned destruction of memory Damnatio Memoriae. My research project analyzes what factors affect when and how political leaders seek to erase history? Specifically the role of different political systems and technologies in this process will be studied. Students would be asked to gather information on a wide variety of historical examples of this phenomenon, including 20 th century examples in the Soviet Union, Japan, and the United States.

David Schanzer
“Radicalization of Muslim Communities in Europe” (position filled)

This project would explore the academic literature relating to radicalization of Muslim communities in Europe and the responses of the host governments. The first part of the project would involve a review of current research on the causes of radicalization, including an analysis of country­to­country differences and their causes. The second part of the project would examine the responses taken by governments to radicalization from both a law enforcement and social policy perspective. The project would also review any evaluation research of these policies, again with a comparative approach between European countries.

Anthony So
“Global innovation and access to medicines and vaccines” (position filled)

The Program on Global Health and Technology Access examines issues of globalization and health equity, with a particular focus on enabling innovation and access to health technologies in resource­poor settings. The RA will provide support for research, policy convenings and presentations, and course development. Projects range from studying patent barriers and humanitarian licensing for the development of HIV/AIDS drugs or vaccines appropriate to the developing world to policy approaches for ensuring future antibiotic supply. The Program works with the Open Society Institute, ReAct (an emerging global coalition combating antibiotic resistance), and various civil society groups engaged in these issues.

Don Taylor
“Effect of Caregiving on the caregiver” (position filled)

I have an NIH funded study that is looking at the effect of caregiving on the caregiver. Informal caregiving is a key component of long term care. We are looking at both health and financial effects. Work on this project will be supervised by Don Taylor, and will include the following types of tasks: *Literature searching and review *Assembling/creating statistical tables in packages such as word or excel *assisting in the submission of manuscripts to journals via online submission web sites *Assisting in assembling a new grant proposal that flows out of this work

The work will likely focus on two papers that are currently under way, “The effect of caregiving on retirement savings of 50 some things.” And “Does caregiving affect men differently than women?”