Staff of the Chicago Center on Democracy
Susan Stokes
Faculty Chair
Dr. Susan Stokes is the Faculty Chair of the Chicago Center on Democracy, where she guides the strategy and direction of the center. She is the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Political Science.
Kevin Kromash
Senior Research Associate
Kevin is the Senior Research Associate at the Chicago Center on Democracy, where he directs all aspects of the center’s operations, including strategy, research, fundraising, and communications.
Andres Uribe
Research Project Lead
Andres Uribe is a PhD student in Political Science. His research broadly focuses on democracy and governance in contexts of violent political contestation. In particular, his dissertation project examines the ways in which armed nonstate actors seek to influence electoral and legislative outcomes. Other projects examine rebel group-political party transitions and the rhetorical strategies of anti-democratic politicians. At the Chicago Center on Democracy, he co-leads our research on the rhetorical strategies of populist politicians.
Ipek Cinar
Research Project Lead and Program Assistant
Ipek is a PhD student in Comparative Politics at the University of Chicago. At the Chicago Center on Democracy, where she co-leads our research on the rhetorical strategies of populist politicians. She also supports events and other activities. Her research interests include democratic backsliding, comparative democratization, and political economy of regime transitions. She also studies quantitative methods and their computational applications to comparative politics.
Arunima Bhattacharjee
Research Assistant
Isabelle Russo
Research Assistant
Julia Du
Research Assistant
Julia is a Research Assistant at the Chicago Center on Democracy, supporting data gathering and analysis on the rhetoric of populist and establishment politicians. A second-year undergraduate student at the University of Chicago, Julia’s major interests include economics, sociology, and history.
Julia Jassey
Research Assistant
Julia Jassey is a first year at the University of Chicago with a focus on the humanities and social science. Her academic passions are largely based upon the intersection between writing, international politics, and psychology. Julia is a Research Assistant for the Chicago Center on Democracy, where her she is working on a project to collect data about the political rhetoric employed by prominent politicians.
Justin Saint-Loubert-Bié
Program Assistant
Justin is a second year at the University of Chicago studying Political Science and Environmental Studies. He is particularly interested in the intersection between the modern crisis of democracy and climate change. Beyond his academic interests, Justin is the music director for UChicago’s Make a Joyful Noise a cappella group, and enjoys photography and playing piano.
Neil Suri
Research Assistant
Neil is a fourth year at the University of Chicago studying Public Policy and Philosophy. He is a Research Assistant at the Chicago Center for Democracy, where he supports projects related to state-level and national referendums. His other academic interests include theories of international relations and technology policy.
Sanittawan Nikki Tan
Program Assistant
Nikki is a Program Assistant at the Chicago Center on Democracy, where she supports events, research, and other activities. She is an M.A. student in the computational social science program at the University of Chicago, where she studies computational methods and their applications to political science research.