Dr. Siv Cheruvu joins MSU PLS
September 11, 2025 - Karessa Weir
Sivaram Cheruvu first came to East Lansing as a senior in high school to attend the Odyssey of the Mind world finals.
As he and his wife, Meck, returned to Michigan State University this summer – this time for Prof. Cheruvu to take his position as assistant professor of Political Science – it felt familiar.
“I feel like I came full circle after all these years,” Prof. Cheruvu said.
A native of New Jersey, Prof. Cheruvu earned his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History from Rutgers University, his Master’s at the London School of Economics, and his PhD at Emory University in Atlanta. He comes to MSU from the University of Texas at Dallas, where he was teaching courses in comparative law and courts, and international law.
He accepted the tenure-track position of Comparative & International Politics in order to teach MSU students those same courses.
“I was super excited to come here because of the strong focus at MSU on pre-law and politics,” he said.
He was also excited to live among changing seasons again.
“I'm excited to explore the landscapes of Michigan” he said.
Prof. Cheruvu’s interest in international politics started with Model United Nations programs in middle school and high school. As an undergraduate, he worked to organize Model UN conferences for high school students.
“I was very interested in the teaching aspects of political science. I knew I wanted to study political science and go into academia,” he said. “I hope I can inspire someone in my class to follow that path.”
Prof. Cheruvu’s research focuses on law and politics in the European Union. Specifically, he is looking into how individual judges affect the outcomes of cases in Europe, which is tricky, because the European courts of justice don’t issue opinions under an individual’s name.
“You have to find out ways to know who is writing what,” he said.
He is also investigating democratic backsliding in Europe and has applied for a National Science Foundation grant to look at the involvement of the Court of Justice and how that affects people’s opinion of their government.
Prof. Cheruvu received the 2022 Sage Award for best article published in European Union Politics, the 2022 APSA European Politics and Society Section’s Ernst B. Haas Best Dissertation Award, the 2022 APSA Law and Courts Section’s Service Award, the 2021 Neal Tate Award for best paper on judicial politics presented at the 2020 SPSA conference, and the 2020 APSA Law and Courts Section’s Best Graduate Student Paper Award.
Prof. Cheruvu is also the founder and organizer of the Junior Law and Politics Research Community (https://sites.google.com/view/jlprc/home), a forum designed for junior scholars to present and receive feedback on their work and connect with other academics studying law and politics.
Outside of work, you can find Prof. Cheruvu watching Netflix documentaries and following sports including the Brooklyn Nets, Rutgers teams, and the New York Jets.
“I am very excited about the MSU basketball season,” he said.