Jody Park

I’m a second-year dual-title Ph.D. student in Political Science and Social Data Analytics at Pennsylvania State University.

My research interests include U.S. bureaucratic politics, American institutions, racial and ethnic diversity, policy diffusion, and socioeconomic inequality. My recent work examines how racial and ethnic diversity within U.S. federal agencies shapes agency ideology and contracting outcomes, using administrative data. I’m also interested in applying text analysis and causal inference models to understand the relationship between bureaucratic agency ideology and policy outcomes for underrepresented people.

Before joining Penn State, I received a Master’s in Development Policy with a specialization in Data Science from the KDI School of Public Policy and Management (KDIS) in South Korea and a B.B.A. from the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) in Canada. I also worked as a researcher at the Korea Development Institute (KDI) and the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training (KRIVET).