Students

Donald Moratz

Bio

Donald Moratz is a Research Manager at the DevLab@Penn and the Department of Political Science at Duke University. His work focuses on the Machine Learning for Peace project and the integration of advanced numerical methods in political science. His substantive areas of interest are in the political economy of development as well as endogenous growth.

Maria Nagawa

Bio

Maria Nagawa is a joint PhD student in the Public Policy and Political Science departments. Her research focuses on the incentives for government bureaucrats in countries receiving development assistance. Previously, Maria has worked as a Lecturer at Makerere University and carried out research with Ugandan, Brazilian, Canadian and French organizations.

Lucy Right

Bio

I am a PhD student in Political Science at Duke University, where my research looks broadly at political institutions and civil society in authoritarian regimes, with a particular focus on Cambodia. I am especially interested in the implications of pluralism in local political institutions in authoritarian regimes for both economic outcomes, such as infrastructure development and local service delivery, and political outcomes, including party organization and the strength of opposition parties. My most recent project studies the effect of opposition party participation in Cambodia’s commune councils on procurement for local infrastructure projects. Another strain of my research looks at the proliferation of restrictive NGO legislation across the developing world and the effects of such legislation on both NGOs and bilateral donors.

Mateo Villamizar-Chaparro

Bio

Mateo Villamizar Chaparro is a PhD candidate at the department of Political Science at Duke University. His research interests include analyzing the politics of public goods’ distribution and violence in developing countries. With an emphasis in economic development, migration, state capacity and political institutions. His dissertation revolves around the effects of internal and international migration in the distribution of public goods and the preferences over redistribution in Brazil and Colombia.