Erica Riray graduated from Loyola Marymount University with honors in political science and Asian Pacific American studies in 2022. After graduating, she joined the Berggruen Institute’s Renovating Democracy program, where she currently studies democratic innovation and deliberative democracy. Her research interests include Asian American politics, urban politics, political behavior, and political psychology. In her doctoral studies, Erica hopes to examine how instances of heightened national awareness of racial justice have contributed to Asian American political identity and participation. Motivated by her background in ethnic studies, Erica aims to capture nuances between Asian American subgroups and build a theory of Asian American political identity that reflects the dynamic heterogeneity of the population. She strives to build off her honors thesis on native-born Filipino American political identity in Los Angeles. Erica has presented her thesis at the Midwest Political Science Association, LMU Undergraduate Symposium, and University of Maryland Rising Scholars Conference.
The APSA Diversity Fellowship Program, formerly the Minority Fellowship Program, was established in 1969 as a fellowship competition to diversify the political science profession. The DFP provides support to students applying to, or in the early stages of, a PhD program in political science. The goal of the program is to increase the number of scholars from minoritized backgrounds in the discipline and ultimately the professoriate. APSA has once again awarded a new cycle to provide support for students currently in the process of applying to political science PhD programs for Fall 2024. Please join us in congratulating the 2024-2025 class of fellows.
- Learn more about DFP at https://apsanet.org/dfp