Welcome! My name is Rana (pronounced renə, like Renaissance). I am an assistant professor of political science at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Previously, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Niehaus Center at Princeton University. I received my Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University.

I study comparative and international politics, with a focus on conflict processes including civil action (or wartime activism), displacement, and humanitarianism. I’m also interested in qualitative and multi-method research. My geographic focus is the Middle East, especially Syria.

My book Civilizing Contention: International Aid in Syria’s War explains the relationship between international aid and nonviolent action among civilians and refugees during the Syrian war. It employs data from field-based immersion and interviews, as well as original social media data.

I earned an M.A. in Arab Studies from Georgetown University and a B.A. in political science from American University. I have lived as far afield as Syria and Singapore, but a piece of my heart is always in Ohio—where I grew up and conducted the research for my first book. As Ohio Goes: Life in the Post-Recession Nation received a national Independent Publishers Book Award in Current Events in 2017.