Traditional and Cross-cutting Research Areas

Department faculty and graduate students participate actively in collaborative research across campus, including the Purdue Policy Research Institute, the Center for the Environment, Building Sustainable Communities, the Purdue Climate Change Research Center, the Purdue Systems Collaboratory, and the Center for Research on Diversity and Inclusion. Purdue is also home to Discovery Park, where "disciplines converge to solve global challenges."

Faculty in the department research in traditional political science fields (American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Public Policy) as well as the cross-cutting fields of Environmental Politics, Political Violence and Human Security, and Politics of Groups and Identities.

Political Science researchers also participate in integrative programs like the Advanced Methods at Purdue initiative and the Integrative Data Science Initiative. This interdisciplinary group of faculty and graduate students in the social sciences explore cutting-edge quantitative research methodologies through workshops, speakers, brown-bags, and graduate seminars.

The department offers graduate certificates in Social Policy and Environmental Policy. At the undergraduate level, the department participates in the Cornerstone program in the College of Liberal Arts, which brings top faculty to the classroom to introduce Purdue students to foundational texts and ideas. Faculty are also active in the interdisciplinary minor the Human Rights Program, and the department is home to the Environmental Politics and Policy Minor.

ADVANCED METHODS AT PURDUE | INTEGRATIVE DATA SCIENCE INITIATIVE

GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN SOCIAL POLICY | GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY | LIBERAL ARTS CORNERSTONE PROGRAM | HUMAN RIGHTS PROGRAM | ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS AND POLICY MINOR