Three graduate students from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs have received recognition and support from the American Political Science Association (APSA) for their research efforts.
Jingding Wang and Hannah Radner, both Ph.D. candidates, were awarded research grants. Nicholas D’Amico received the Kenneth Sherrill Prize for the best dissertation proposal on an empirical study of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) topics in political science.
The APSA doctoral dissertation research improvement grants are designed to support projects that seek to advance understanding of citizenship, government, and politics.
Wang’s research focuses on central bank digital currencies. He is studying how access to these digital forms of government-issued money creates new forms of power in the global financial system. The grant will allow Wang to conduct fieldwork abroad and examine cross-border payment networks connecting various currencies.
Radner’s work explores how political parties adjust their campaign strategies based on election scope. She aims to find out if parties change their messaging to better connect with local voters during subnational elections. With her grant, Radner will travel to the United Kingdom to observe campaign approaches in the upcoming Scottish and Welsh parliamentary elections.
D’Amico’s dissertation proposal, titled “Rainbow Participation? Assessing the Forces Motivating LGBTQ Participation and Political Identity in the United States,” investigates why LGBTQ Americans tend to be more politically active and consistent in their views. His project involves interviews, surveys, and analysis of existing studies to test whether shared experiences contribute significantly to LGBTQ political identity and behavior. D’Amico is among nine recipients of APSA Dissertation Awards for 2025.
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