We foster a vibrant community among graduate students, emphasizing the importance of considering the ideas, traditions, and texts that shape Western Civilization and American values and institutions. Often confined by artificial boundaries between academic disciplines, students from diverse fields stand to gain valuable insights from each other. Primarily, our program urges students aspiring to academic careers to contemplate the significance of civic virtue and civil discourse within educational settings both in the classroom and across campus, while also encouraging them to reflect on how their research can positively impact a free society.
Adam is a first-year PhD student in Linguistics, with research interests in language documentation and philosophy of language. He graduated summa cum laude from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, where he earned a B.S. in Linguistics and a B.A. in Classics.
Ángel is a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Florida with research interests in international macroeconomics and economic expectations. He holds an MA in Economics from the University of Florida, an MS in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and graduated with honors with a BS in Economics from Universidad Nacional de Asunción. Ángel has professional experience as a PhD Summer Intern at the International Monetary Fund and previously held key positions at the Central Bank of Paraguay, focusing on external sector statistics and financial inclusion. He has received several academic awards, including the Lawrence Kenny Teaching Award and the Robert F. Lanzillotti Best Third Year Paper Award. Before becoming an instructor at the University of Florida, he was a Lecturer at the Universidad Católica “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción,” where he taught Intermediate Microeconomics and Intermediate Macroeconomics, and also taught Econometrics at the Universidad Nacional de Asunción, both in Paraguay.
Gabriella is a masters student at the University of Florida’s College of Education studying Curriculum and Instruction with a Concentration in Educational Technology. She was a member of the 2022-2023 Hamilton Center Society of Fellows. She plans to use her background in civic literacy, academic research, and student advocacy to create inclusive learning environments.
Zhen holds an M.A. in Political Theory from Fudan University and a degree in Comparative History from Central European University. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Florida. His research focuses on the history of political thought in the early modern period and contemporary issues related to the environment and technology.
Ilia is an applied microeconomist with a focus on education, labor economics, econometric methods, and industrial organization. He applies his expertise to solve real-world economic problems in both consulting and research settings. Ilia’s professional interests encompass a range of topics, especially antitrust litigation and policy research. Ilia has collaborated on numerous interdisciplinary projects in various countries, which has allowed him to develop interpersonal skills valuable in team settings. Moreover, his knowledge of English, German, and Russian further enables him to communicate effectively in diverse settings. Ilia is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Florida. Prior to this, he completed an M.Sc. in Quantitative Economics at Yeshiva University in New York City and a B.A. in Finance at Lauder Business School in Vienna, Austria.
Thomas is a PhD student in Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Florida. Originally from Oregon, he currently resides in Gainesville, Florida. His current research involves multi-agent cooperation in stochastic environments with applications to defense, UAV jamming, mobile data collection, wireless communications, and search & rescue. Beyond his direct research, he holds varied interests in emerging defense technology, national defense policy, classical literature, and folk music. He deeply appreciates the subtleties of local custom and community and is married to his wife Jocelyn, with one daughter, Jael Murphy.
Taylor is a Doctoral Student and Instructor in the English Department at the University of Florida. His multidisciplinary research covers the intersections of literature and cinema through adaptation studies, considering new formations (that is, adaptations) of paradigms within literary studies and modernism. Outside of the Anglosphere, his primary interests are in Polish literature and cinema as well as Japanese New Media such as anime and manga. His survey courses introduce this gamut to students across academic boundaries, showing how artistic pursuits and philosophical thinking can be applied to any major and vocational path. Taylor is also the Book Reviews editor for the comics and intermedia journal ImageTexT and the founder and host of the Hamilton Center’s Virtue of Cinema student programming series.
Alexander Scala is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science in Microbiology and Cell Science at the University of Florida. He is passionate about biotechnology policy and began his academic journey conducting analytical chemistry research in the Xing Lab at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. In this role, he supported multiple animal tumor prevention studies and gained valuable insights into cancer treatment development. His drug development research continued at Insmed, where he identified six drug candidates for preclinical development through degradation studies. His research focuses on examining the intersection of biotechnology and policy to drive innovation in the United States. He advocates for regulatory improvements that incentivize research, streamline drug development, and enhance public health outcomes. By studying emerging biotechnology policies abroad, he seeks to identify beneficial similarities while proposing policies that support American researchers rather than hinder their efforts.
