MSU PLS PhD candidate Zuhaib Mahmood receives an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship

December 4, 2020

Zuhaib Mahmood, who studies international conflict, cooperation and diplomacy, is one of 23 new postdoctoral researchers announced this week by the National Science Foundation.

Zuhaib will be conducting his postdoctoral research at Duke University under Dr. Kyle Beardlsey. 

His substantive research interests include interstate politics, the international politics of civil war, and the role of institutions like the UN in facilitating diplomacy. He is also interested in text as data, predictive modeling, machine learning, and computational social science. His dissertation focuses on how speeches delivered at the UN can convey meaningful information about a country’s foreign policy interests.  

Zuhaib received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in Political Science and minored in Chemistry. He worked for 3 years, during and after his undergraduate work, at a digital pathology lab with UNC. 

The National Science Foundation’s Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE) supports highly qualified early-career scientists as they embark on research projects exploring a range of topics critical to our daily lives and communities, including human learning and cognition, communication between infants and caregivers, coping with violence and broadening participation in STEM fields. After a rigorous peer review process, 23 new postdoctoral research fellowships across a range of social, behavioral and economic science disciplines have been awarded for 2020.

“We’re excited to provide support for the next generation of scholars conducting cutting-edge research,” says Josie Welkom, director of SBE’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship program. “With the mentorship of top scientists in their fields, the fellows represent the future of the social, behavioral and economic sciences.”

In addition to supporting fundamental exploratory research, SBE’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship program also seeks to enhance the participation of underrepresented groups in science while providing an opportunity for advanced training under the guidance of a sponsoring scientist. The fellowships also help prepare doctoral-level scientists for careers in U.S. industry, academia or government.

For additional information, including frequently asked questions and award abstracts, visit the SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellowship program.