Politics Research Lab – Jennifer Nicoll Victor

My politics research lab hosts a select group of graduate and undergraduate students each semester who serve as my research assistants, teaching assistants, mentees, or coauthors. We have mandatory lab meetings every Friday at 4pm.

Apply for a position in fall 2026

The following roster applies to students in the Spring 2026 Research Lab.

PhD Students

Christine German
Political Science Ph.D., 2026
Lab Projects: Ph.D. dissertation
Research Interests: extremism, terrorism, gender, authoritarianism

Oakley Hill
Peace & Conflict Resolution, Ph.D. 2026
Lab Projects: Ph.D. dissertation

John Sheehan
History, Ph.D. 2026
Lab Projects: Ph.D. dissertation

Janet Marroquin [email protected]
Biodefense Ph.D., 2026
Lab Projects: Ph.D. Dissertation

Current lab projects include:

Manuscript or data visualization support for Professor Victor’s in-progress book manuscript, Root and Branch: The Network Origins of Political Capital in the US Congress.
- ABSTRACT:
  What does it mean for a legislator to earn or spend political capital? How can we know when someone has it? This book offers a theoretical framework for understanding political capital as the byproduct of networks of relationships. Drawing on network data from five observable networks among members of the United States House of Representatives, I estimate political capital for each legislator with two primary components: embeddedness and brokerage. Embedded capital describes lawmakers with deep connections—the roots of the legislative network. Brokerage capital describes those with the capacity to branch out and connect subnetworks that would not otherwise be connected. I identify legislators who are most likely to exhibit each form of political capital. In Part II of the book, I look at how legislators spend their earned political capital. I show that those higher in embedded capital tend to be more successful legislators while those higher in brokerage capital tend to be chamber leaders. Ultimately, this research shows that legislative outcomes are driven by those with political capital, which is itself generated from networks of connections.
Caucus Explorer — update, maintain, and improve the user interface for the web-based tool designed to explore congressional caucus memberships and relationships.

Undergraduate Students, Spring 2026

Student	Degree Program	Lab Project
Ariel Mehmeti	GVIP, 2028	Caucus Explorer
Charles Ritter	GVIP, 2026	Data Viz
Emma Schaible	GVIP, 2028	Book manuscript support
Grace Miller	GVIP, 2028	Book manuscript support
Mateen Monshizada	GVIP, 2026	Data Viz (April 2026)
Chailyn Pullen	GVIP, 2026	Book manuscript support