Hyerin Seo

About Me

Hello! I am Hyerin Seo, a dedicated Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Michigan State University, and I will be entering the job market this fall. My academic journey has been driven by a deep curiosity about the forces that shape political behavior and the ways in which ordinary people engage in the political process.

During my Master's studies, I focused on public protests in the Middle East, exploring the motivations behind grassroots movements and the political actions of everyday citizens. This foundational interest in understanding political participation has led me to my current research on nationalism, a powerful force shaping public opinion and the political landscape across the globe today. My dissertation investigates how nationalism is reproduced at the public level, its creation and dissemination, and its influence on people's perceptions and actions.

Currently, my research centers on online discourse about nations in East Asia. I analyze how nationalistic sentiments are expressed and propagated in digital spaces using advanced research methods. My work includes natural language processing (NLP) of Korean and Japanese texts from online platforms, utilizing both R and Python to create robust academic datasets. Based on data scraped from a Korean online community, I have written an academic paper titled "Everyday Nationalism Unleashed Online: Textual Evidence from South Korea During the 2022 World Cup Games," which is under revision and resubmission with Nationalities Papers. I am also working on gathering and pre-processing Japanese data to further my dissertation chapters.

In addition to my primary research, I am passionate about embracing innovative research methodologies and teaching those methods and skills to students. My proficiency in R and Python has enabled me to explore new techniques for data analysis, enriching my research and contributing to the broader field of Political Science. Since Spring 2024, I have been the main instructor for PLS 202: Introduction to Data Analytics, which was an incredibly valuable opportunity for my personal development while allowing me to share my skills with others. Almost 90% of the undergraduate students reported feeling confident in data analytics after completing the class. In 2023, I also led workshops and lab sessions on research methods for incoming first-year graduate students.

Contact:

Michigan State University
Department of Political Science
230 South Kedzie Hall, East Lansing, MI 48823

Personal website: http://www.hyerinseo.com/

Email address: seohyeri@msu.edu

Link to CV - Hyerin Seo