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

I study comparative and international politics, with a focus on nonviolent conflict processes including activism, displacement, and humanitarian response. I’m also interested in qualitative and multi-method research. My geographic focus is the Middle East, especially the Levant. My book project 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 Ohio—where I conducted the research for my book—is the place I call home. As Ohio Goes: Life in the Post-Recession Nation received a national Independent Publishers Book Award in Current Events in 2017.