Zabdi R. Velásquez Zavalza is a second-year PhD student in the Department of Political Science at UCLA. He specializes in comparative politics and race, ethnicity, and politics, with a minor in environmental politics and governance and a regional focus on Latin America and marginalized communities in the United States. Zabdi’s work examines how access to essential public goods and services, such as water, sanitation, and waste infrastructure, shapes political attitudes, civic engagement, and perceptions of state responsiveness among historically underserved populations. Using mixed-methods approaches, including GIS spatial analysis, archival research, and surveys, his current research explores environmental inequality, informal waste dumping, and other environmental harms in Los Angeles and Mexico. Prior to UCLA, Zabdi earned his BA in political science and international affairs from the University of California, Riverside, where he conducted research on the Lithium Valley project in his home community of Imperial County, CA. As an APSA Diversity Fellow, he aims to produce policy-relevant scholarship that advances environmental justice and strengthens democratic inclusion. He aspires to a career in academia, where he can teach courses on comparative politics, environmental governance, and inequality while mentoring first-generation and underrepresented students.
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. APSA has once again awarded a new cycle to provide support for students currently in their first or second year as of Spring 2026. Please join us in congratulating the 2026-2027 class of fellows.
- Learn more about DFP at https://apsanet.org/dfp
- Meet the 2026-2027 class of DFP Fellows
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