Title: Welcoming Mortara’s 2023-24 GPEP Fellows

The Global Political Economy Project (GPEP) at the Mortara Center for International Studies sponsors pre-doctoral fellows each academic year. GPEP fellows pursue their own research projects while attending workshops on emerging issues in political economy, mentoring, and professional training. GPEP seeks to encourage innovative work by comparative and international political economy scholars that focuses on the ways in which global markets shape peoples’ lives and identifies how globalization might be harnessed for the greater good. 

The 2023-2024 fellows are Gloria Xiong (Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University), Eddie Yang (Ph.D. candidate at UC San Diego), and Dillon Laaker (Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison). We asked them a few questions to introduce them to the Mortara community. 

What excites you about the GPEP Fellowship?

Gloria: The GPEP fellowship provides junior scholars with various opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of how ideas, ideology, and identity shape the global and local impact of trade and capital flows. Besides learning from Professors Newman and McNamara and collaborating with other fellows, I’m excited about belonging to an intellectually stimulating and supportive research community during the final stage of writing my dissertation. 

Eddie: The opportunity to interact with an interdisciplinary community and explore D.C.

Dillon: I am excited to be around so many political economists at Georgetown!

What is your research about?

Gloria: My research focuses on economic statecraft, sanctions, and the domestic politics of international relations, with a focus on China. More specifically, my dissertation investigates the drivers and consequences of China’s economic statecraft.

Eddie: I study how propaganda and censorship induce bias in AI and the implications of such bias for authoritarian politics.

Dillon: I study the international political economy of trade and immigration, broadly defined. My current research focuses on two main themes. First, I am interested in how the globalization of supply chains influences the politics of trade policy. A second line of research focuses on the development of public attitudes toward globalization. 

What is your favorite way to spend your free time?

Gloria: In my free time, I always enjoy running, ice-skating, and listening to podcasts.

Eddie: Run, read, rest.

Dillon: I enjoy hiking and backcountry camping in state and national parks.

If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Gloria: It would be my late grandfather. He passed away during my senior year in college and I couldn’t be there by his side.

Eddie: Pierre de Fermat. Need to know if he really had proof of his last theorem.

Dillon: Michelle Wolf because she is my favorite comedian, and dinner would be a blast.

Please join us in welcoming Gloria, Eddie, and Dillon to the Mortara community! We cannot wait to see the contributions they each bring to GPEP and beyond.