Jack Starobin

Research at Penn has helped me broaden my academic interests and focus my professional goals. I began my research career in Penn’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP), studying the influence of think tanks in North America on regional policy outcomes. I applied to PURM for summer 2021 and was rejected—but the following fall, I reconnected with my top choice professor, Dr. Dan Hopkins in Penn’s Political Science Department, and joined his research team. With Dr. Hopkins, I studied American public opinion on the Affordable Care Act, as well as the roles of social identities in the virality of social media posts. My junior year, I took a step back from research to explore civic engagement opportunities with the Netter Center for Community Partnerships. I returned to research the following summer with the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES), where I studied election administration to help NBC News prepare for coverage of the 2024 presidential primaries. For one of my main projects at PORES, I designed and coded an R program for real-time processing of precinct-level voter turnout data from PDF voter turnout reports. I’d be happy to share my experiences and offer guidance to help any undergraduates get involved in research on campus! Please feel free to reach out to me with questions at any step of the research process.

Research Positions and Awards:

• Student Research Fellow, Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (2023-Present)
• Fellows in Urban Leadership, Penn Institute for Urban Research (2022-2023)
• Research Assistant, Dr. Dan Hopkins, Political Science Department (2021-2022)
• Research Coordinator, Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, Regional Focus: North America (2021)

Extracurriculars: Excelano Project, Nominations and Elections Committee (Penn Student Government), Penn Chavurah