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University of South Florida

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Å·ÃÀÈý¼¶Æ¬ faculty experts available for interviews on key issues throughout 2024 election cycle

The University of South Florida offers a variety of faculty experts to discuss key issues relevant to the 2024 primary and general elections.

Listed below are some of Å·ÃÀÈý¼¶Æ¬â€™s experts by topic, along with their focus area. Members of the media interested in an interview are asked to contact Althea Johnson (altheapaul@usf.edu), who will work to accommodate interview requests within the experts’ schedules.

In addition, if there is interest in a topic not listed, is another resource to quickly locate faculty members by keywords, expertise or college. 

GENERAL POLITICS

Edwin Benton

Professor of political science and public administration

  • State and local government politics
  • Government finances and fiscal behavior
  • Welfare and housing policy  

Rob Mellen Jr.

Assistant professor of political science

  • Presidency 
  • Interaction among government branches
  • Congressional politics
  • Presidential primaries and caucuses

Janna Merrick

Professor of political science

  • Public policy
  • American national government 

Susan MacManus

Professor emeritus of political science

  • Florida politics
  • Political issues
  • Women in politics 
  • Voter demographics 

Darryl Paulson

Professor emeritus of government

  • Florida politics
  • American government
  • Political campaigns 
  • Voting rights 

POLITICAL COMMUNICATION/ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE

Josh Scacco

Associate professor of communication studies

  • Political campaigns
  • Misinformation and disinformation 
  • Social and digital media
  • Public opinion

Lawrence Hall

Distinguished university professor of computer science

  • AI regulation
  • AI in image processing
  • AI and its effects on jobs and the workplace 

John Licato

Assistant professor of computer science

  • How large language models such as ChatGPT can be used in political messaging
  • AI in spam communications
  • AI’s impact on cognitive biases in political communications 

Stephen Neely

Associate professor of public administration

  • Media and politics
  • Public policy
  • Survey research on policy and election topics 

COVID-19/PUBLIC HEALTH/MENTAL HEALTH

Jason Salemi

Associate professor of epidemiology

  • Infectious disease
  • Public health surveillance
  • Maternal and child health, birth defects
     

Jay Wolfson

Distinguished professor of public health, medicine and pharmacy

  • Differences in candidates’ approach to health care and policy
  • Health care finance
  • Health policy and practice
     

Ryan Wagoner

Division chief, Morsani College of Medicine Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences

  • Social anxiety related to news consumption 
  • Social anxiety related to interactions on social media
  • The philosophy of individuals not assuming the worst in others
     

Michael Teng

Assistant professor of internal medicine

  • Infectious disease
  • Allergies and immunology
  • Biomedical engineering
     

Jill Roberts

Associate professor of public health

  • COVID-19
  • Public health guidelines and implementation
  • Broad perspective on infectious diseases
     

Katherine Drabiak

Associate professor of public health law

  • Health policy
  • Health law
  • Bioethics/clinical ethics

CLIMATE CHANGE/ENVIRONMENT 

Chris Meindl

Associate professor of geography

  • Regional geography
  • Water management
  • Environmental policy

Christian Wells

Professor of anthropology

  • Environmental justice and underserved communities
  • Soil/water/air contamination; brownfields
  • Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and White House Justice40 Initiative
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Feng Hao

Associate professor of sociology

  • Human causes of climate change
  • National and international climate policy
  • Renewable energy deployment
  • Public opinion on environmental issues

Gary Mitchum

Professor of physical oceanography

  • Global sea-level rise
  • Broader connections between climate change and hurricanes
  • Impacts of sea-level rise, storm surge and hurricanes

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

Edelyn Verona

Professor of psychology

  • Psychology and crime
  • Violence prevention
  • Pathways to incarceration and reentry
  • Mental health and criminal justice

Jessica Grosholz

Associate professor of criminology

  • Recidivism
  • Prisoner education
  • Prisoner reentry

CYBERSECURITY

George W. Burruss

Professor of criminology

  • Policing
  • Homeland security
  • Victimization in cyberspace

Giti Javidi

Professor of cybersecurity

  • Cybersecurity governance and policies
  • Cyber threat intelligence and risk management
  • Security in smart infrastructures (smart cities, smart power/utility grids, smart vehicles)

Thomas Hyslip

Assistant professor of criminology

  • Computer hacking
  • Cybercrime
  • Digital forensics

Stephen Gary

Associate professor of information and intelligence studies

  • Cyber threats to the 2024 elections
  • Cyber threat actors and reasonings 
  • Cyber threats to public and private sectors

ECONOMY

Michael Snipes

Associate professor of economics

  • General economics and policy
  • Inflation
  • Housing and cost of living

Brad Kamp 

Associate professor of economics 

  • Microeconomics 
  • Information economics 
  • Trade 

Richard Smith

Associate professor of economics

  • Health care economics

FOREIGN POLICY

Golfo Alexopoulos

Professor of Russian and Soviet history

  • Russian politics and history 
  • US-Russian relations
  • Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 
  • Authoritarianism and political violence in Europe

Tatsiana Kulekevich

Instructor of political science

  • Eastern Europe, Belarus
  • International political economics, migration and protest politics
  • Democratization, international security and ethnic politics

Steven Roach

Professor of international relations

  • Global governance
  • Critical international theory
  • International criminal court
  • Global ethics and warfare 

Thomas Smith

Professor of foreign affairs

  • International humanitarian law
  • Middle East
  • Laws of war

Adib Farhadi

Assistant professor of economics

  • Great Power competition
  • Violent extremism
  • Religion, conflict and peacebuilding

IMMIGRATION

Elizabeth Aranda

Professor of sociology

  • Undocumented young adults in Florida
  • Immigration policies
  • Latinos/as and racial profiling; Latinos/as and voting behavior
  • Puerto Rican migration; Puerto Ricans in Florida

Heidi Castañeda

Professor of anthropology

  • Borders
  • Migration/immigration
  • Migrant health

Jody McBrien

Professor of educational studies

  • International migration and refugee resettlement
  • Families affected by war
  • Global refugee population growth (from 9.2 million in 2004 to 35.3 million in 2022)

NATIONAL SECURITY/DEFENSE

Jim Cardoso

Senior director, Global and National Security Institute; U.S. Air Force (ret.)

  • National security
  • Military and defense industry
  • Aviation
  • Special operations

David Oakley

Academic director, Global and National Security Institute; former U. S. Army field artillery officer

  • Intelligence, including CIA/Department of Defense relations
  • U.S. foreign policy
  • Civilian-military and civilian-intelligence relations
  • Irregular warfare

Tad Schnaufer II

Research and strategy manager, Global and National Security Institute

  • NATO
  • Military studies
  • Foreign policy
  • Hybrid warfare

Zacharias P. Pieri

Associate professor of political science

  • Extremism -- both domestic and international, including jihadist movements
  • Far right activity in the U.S.
  • Antisemitism

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