Justine Orgel

When I entered my freshman year at Penn, I felt torn between my interests in politics and the quantitative sciences. Luckily, through research and the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES), I found the best of both worlds. My freshman fall, I took Introduction to Data Science and developed the research skills necessary to conduct data-driven social science research. The following semester, I completed my first PORES research fellowship with Dr. Lauren Russell on the relationship between the proximity of college campuses and political outcomes. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to conduct research for the NBC Decision Desk during the 2022 midterm elections and worked as an intern at SurveyMonkey. PORES revolutionized my understanding of research: first, it takes many forms and is not a STEM-only endeavor. And second, if there’s any data associated with a question, that question can be explored. 

If you are a social science student who is interested in research, please feel free to reach out to me! I’m also happy to answer questions about political science, the SRDA minor, or anything else that may have piqued your interest. 

Research Programs/Awards

• PORES Fellowship
• First Place Winner of the PAPOR Student Paper Competition