Matthew Lebo
Acting Chair

Oleg Smirov
Director of Graduate Programs

The Ph.D. program in Political Science,in the College of Arts and Sciences is characterized by several distinct features:
A. Three areas of specialization (Political Psychology/Behavior, Political Economy and Public Policy, American Politics)
B. Close student/faculty interaction
C. An emphasis on professional training of research-oriented students and the production of professional-quality articles and conference papers by Ph.D. students.

The Department has extensive research facilities equal to any in the country, most located on the same floor with faculty and student offices. Students routinely use the conveniently located computer facilities for writing and analysis as part of their professional training. The Social and Behavioral Sciences Data Laboratory on our floor provides access to state-of-the-art personal computers tied to a local computer network and providing connections to all computers on campus. The Stony Brook Instructional Networked Computer site one floor below the Department provides additional personal computers for classroom and research work. In addition, our data lab maintains a library of reference materials, holds classes on specific software packages, provides access to the extensive data archives available through the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Resources, and employs computer consultants to help with student research projects. All of the resources of the data lab are available to graduate students.