MPE Program Co-Directors
Mariely López-Santana
Co-Director
Mariely López-Santana is an Associate Professor of Political Science at George Mason University. Dr. López-Santana received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan and her BA from the University of Puerto Rico. Prior to joining George Mason University, she was Max Weber Post-Doctoral Fellow at the European University Institute (Florence, Italy). Dr. López-Santana’s research and teaching interests focus on comparative politics of advanced democracies, federalism, welfare states, and social policies. Her research has appeared in a variety of venues, including Publius, Journal of European Public Policy, SUNY Press, and Journal of Social Policy.
CO-DIRECTOR
Fernando Tormos-Aponte is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh and a Kendall Fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a Visiting Scholar at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Cambridge. He earned his MA and Ph.D. in Political Science from Purdue University, West Lafayette, and a BA from the Universidad de Puerto Rico—Río Piedras. Dr. Tormos-Aponte specializes in environmental and racial justice, intersectional solidarity, identity politics, social policy, and transnational politics. Tormos-Aponte’s research is situated in two areas of inquiry. Inspired by the devastating toll that hurricanes Irma and María had on his native Puerto Rico, Tormos-Aponte investigates civil society claims about the uneven government response across communities. His work in this area examines the causes and consequences of government neglect of socially vulnerable communities during disaster recoveries. Tormos-Aponte’s work also investigates how marginalized groups organize to address their societal needs. He seeks to understand the drivers and consequences of building solidarity across social group differences and how social movements develop an intersectional organizing approach.
Kimberly Turner
Co-Director
Kimberly Turner is an Assistant Professor of International Affairs. Prior to joining University of Pittsburgh, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute, and an International Security postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center. Dr. Turner received her PhD in political science from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Her research focuses on political violence and peace science. Her substantive work examines the causes and outcomes of mass movements. Her methodological research seeks to develop new measures of non-violent resistance efficacy. Dr. Turner work sits at the intersection of comparative politics and international political science. Her dissertation analyzed the linkages between skilled labor’s employment and wage grievance to the onset and outcomes of contentious politics within authoritarian settings. Dr. Turner's work has been published in the Journal of Peace Research, American Political Science Association, Social Science Quarterly, Duck of Minerva, and the Global Post.
Mayra Vélez Serrano
CO-DIRECTOR
Mayra Vélez Serrano earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University at Buffalo. She has taught at University at Buffalo and Buffalo State College and currently teaches at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. Her research and teaching interests include comparative politics, regional integration, public opinión and social media. She is co-founder of Puerto Rican Public Opinion Lab (PRPol), the only academic institution collecting high quality public opinion data in Puerto Rico. She is co-founder of the Minority Graduate Placement Program (MIGAP), a pipeline program for undergraduate political science students from the University of Puerto Rico, a Minority Serving Institution (MSI), interested in applying to political science PhD programs. Her work can be found in Political Research Quaterly, PS: Politics and Political Science, World Review of Political Economy, Revista Ámbitos de Encuentro, Revista de Relaciones Internacionales, and Caribbean Studies. She is a contributor for El Nuevo Día and Radio Universidad