Research Areas

Faculty in the department research in traditional political science fields (American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Public Policy) and we have strengths in cross-cutting research areas such as Governance and Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Political Economy, Development, Environmental Politics and Policy, Political Violence and Human Security, Group Politics, Computational Social Science, Experimental Methods and Causal Inference.  

Political Science researchers also participate in integrative programs, centers, and institutes like Methodology Center at Purdue, the Integrative Data Science Initiative, the Center for C-SPAN Scholarship and Engagement, the Purdue Policy Research Institute, the Institute for a Sustainable Future and the Institute for Physical AI. These interdisciplinary groups of faculty and graduate students explore cutting-edge substantive questions and 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, the Advanced Methods at Purdue Graduate Certificate and the department is home to the Environmental Politics and Policy Minor.