Helen V. Milner is delighted to announce that the 17th cohort of NCGG fellows chosen from a large pool of applicants from all over the globe will be in residence in September 2021 through June 2022, pursuing their own research projects and contributing to the intellectual life of the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance and the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Our incoming scholars are as follows:

NCGG Postdoctoral Fellows

Katherine Beall is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on the expansion of regionalism in the Global South and on North-South contestation over norms of non-interference, human rights, and development. Her dissertation examines the decision by leaders in Latin America and Africa to delegate authority for enforcing human rights to their regional organizations, arguing that this was a way of trading sovereignty, in the sense of national autonomy and exclusive authority, for self-determination, or the ability to participate in decision-making that affects them. She finds that this objective united dictatorships and democracies, while pushing authoritarian leaders to open themselves up to challenging regional enforcement. Katherine holds an M.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. from the University of Kansas.

Matt Malis is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Politics at New York University, and an incoming Assistant Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on diplomacy and the bureaucratic politics of foreign policy, using game-theoretic and quantitative methods. Ongoing work examines the strategic use of face-to-face diplomatic visits; the informational role of presidential advisors in crisis bargaining; and the consequences of U.S. ambassadorial vacancies. His work has been published in International Organization, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Theoretical Politics, and multiple edited volumes.

Michael-David Mangini is a Ph.D.candidate in Political Economy and Government at Harvard University and expects to receive the degree in May 2022. His work studies the circumstances under which a mutually beneficial international economic relationship transforms into a political vulnerability. His dissertation uses quantitative and qualitative methods to show how the design, scope, prevalence, and effectiveness of economic coercion all depend on the believability of threats to interrupt market access. He also has research interests in the political economy of trade policy and state formation. In addition to the Ph.D. he also holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Rachel Schoner is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. Her research explores non-state actor access in international institutions and the role individuals play in global politics. Her dissertation analyzes how political actors mobilize in international legal institutions to change the behavior of repressive governments and improve respect for human rights. She uses a variety of methods in her research including collection of original data, elite interviews, qualitative case studies, and cross-national quantitative analysis. Before pursuing her Ph.D. at UC San Diego, Rachel received a B.A. in Mathematics & Political Science and M.A. in Political Science from Emory University.

Calvin Thrall received his Ph.D.in Government from the University of Texas at Austin in 2022. His research focuses on the role of private firms as actors of interest in the international political economy, with particular interests in firms' engagement with international economic institutions, diplomacy, and public-private governance. His current book project seeks to explain the "bilateralization" of global economic governance over the late 20th and early 21st centuries, in which issues such as foreign direct investment and international taxation have come to be regulated by large bilateral treaty networks rather than multilateral agreements. Thrall argues that corporate demand for treaties, as well as firms' preference for exclusivity, has played an underappreciated role in the evolution and design of modern international institutions. His work has been published in International Organization, The Review of International Organizations, and Business and Politics. In Fall 2023, Thrall will join the Department of Political Science at Columbia University as Assistant Professor. 

Noah Zucker is a Ph.D.candidate in Political Science at Columbia University and an incoming Assistant Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics. Noah primarily studies global climate politics. His current research considers how ethnic, racial, and gender divisions interact with climate-induced economic transitions and other instances of economic change. He employs a range of quantitative and qualitative methods in his work, including field experimentation, geospatial analysis, historical records linking, and elite interviews. His work is published in the Journal of Politics and has received APSA’s McGillivray Award for Best Paper in Political Economy, Sage Paper Prize for Best Paper in Comparative Politics, and Best Paper Award in Democracy and Autocracy. Prior to beginning his graduate work, Noah received a BA summa cum laude from the University of Southern California.