At USC Discovery Day, three undergraduate students will present work conducted with South Carolina political science professors.

Catherine Goodwin is studying how the public views US development aid when the framing of the aid clashes. Aid can be endorsed by members of Republicans and Democrats, and the specific type of aid can be gendered. She designed an original survey experiment to investigate this complex interactions. Her faculty mentors are Tobias Heinrich and Katelyn Stauffer; Kelsey Martin-Morales (South Carolina graduate student) and Yoshi Kobayashi (University of Leeds) assisted as well.

Ethan Magnuson is presenting research he has done in collaboration with faculty mentor Todd Shaw. The project asks in what ways (if any) the built environment – the geographic context and physical design – of Atlanta public housing did or did not have an impact on the trust and social relationship of its residents and upon their capacity to collectively act and civically engage. 

Jacob Swanstrom is giving a poster on how terrorist organizations’ tactical choices affect how people pay attention to terrorism. Terrorist attacks may target civilians or the police, and they may be bombings of empty buildings or of churches. This type of brutality shapes how intensely people consult Google to find out more about the perpetrating organization. This is joint work with Tobias Heinrich, Justin Conrad (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) and Yoshiharu Kobayashi (University of Leeds).