Jane Kitaevich is a political scientist whose research examines how conflict violence shapes public opinion and grassroots political behavior, with a particular focus on support for democracy and protest mobilization. She approaches these questions using a wide range of methods, from original large-scale data analysis and surveys to experiments, ethnography, and archival research. While her primary regional expertise is in the South Caucasus, she is a broad comparativist whose work spans Eurasia and the Middle East.
Jane is completing her Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Michigan. She is a proud REECA-n, and has previously worked as a Junior Fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Jane is also a dedicated and enthusiastic educator: her teaching has received multiple awards, and she has taught courses in research methods, comparative politics, international relations, and regional studies. She especially enjoys mentoring students and previously founded a lab-style research group where she worked closely with over 30 undergraduate and graduate students.
Outside of academia, Jane is a lifelong student of languages (13 and counting) and a jazz singer.