{"id":174,"date":"2023-12-11T14:45:33","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T22:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-usc-dornsife.pantheonsite.io\/megan-becker\/?page_id=174"},"modified":"2023-12-11T15:07:36","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T23:07:36","slug":"spec-lab","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"SPEC Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n \n \n
\n\n \n

\"SPECThe Security and Political Economy (SPEC) Lab conducts interdisciplinary, policy-relevant research on issues at the intersection of climate change, security, and economic development. These research projects provide opportunities for undergraduate students to develop data science and other research skills and apply them directly to the policy challenges facing national governments and international institutions.<\/p>\n

The interdisciplinary nature of the SPEC Lab draws students from a wide range of fields including International Relations, Economics, Computer Science, Political Science, Environmental Studies, and Mathematics. We focus in particular on recruiting and serving female, minority, and first generation students. In a close-knit, supportive research community we are building the next generation of social science researchers. \u00a0We typically recruit new members each semester, with most students starting in the fall.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in joining my research team, please go to the main SPEC Lab website<\/a>\u00a0and fill out the interest form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n \n \n
\n\n \n
Resources, Climate, and Conflict Team<\/h5>\n

What is the connection between natural resources and conflict? \u00a0We study the ways in which resource wealth and dependence can motivate and prolong conflict within states. Relatedly, we also look at how environmental degradation and climate uncertainty related to climate change may spur conflict. We take a ‘mixed methods’ approach–combining statistical analyses with qualitative cases studies that can illuminate the causal mechanisms that connect natural resources and the environment to social conflict and civil war.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Team Members:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hailey Robertson (Team Lead)<\/p>\n

Shanzeh Faheem<\/p>\n

Jill Glickman<\/p>\n

Joe Jocas<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Squires<\/p>\n

Helen Williams<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alumni:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Srividya Dasaraju<\/p>\n

Bethany Ford (REU)<\/p>\n

Ari Kelo (REU)<\/p>\n

Lindsay Lauder<\/p>\n

Douglas Luo<\/p>\n

Isabelle Nazha<\/p>\n

Sarah Orsborn<\/p>\n

Bethany Thompson (REU)<\/p>\n

Nick Tinoco<\/p>\n

Ben Wu<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Education, Evaluation, and Pedagogy Team<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong>This team consists of POIR PhD students who work with SPEC. \u00a0They run educational workshops for our undergraduates, lead student research teams, help evaluate lab outcomes, and work on pedagogy research based on lab activities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PhD Student Team Members:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alix Ziff (Lab Director)<\/p>\n

Nico Albertoni<\/p>\n

Miriam Barnum<\/p>\n

Gaea Morales<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alumni:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Therese Anders<\/p>\n

R. Joseph Huddleston<\/p>\n

Xinru Ma<\/p>\n

Kelebogile Zvobgo<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-174","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSPEC Lab - Megan Becker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SPEC Lab - Megan Becker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Megan Becker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-11T23:07:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/\",\"name\":\"SPEC Lab - Megan Becker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-11T22:45:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-11T23:07:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SPEC Lab\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/\",\"name\":\"Megan Becker\",\"description\":\"USC Dornsife Megan Becker\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SPEC Lab - Megan Becker","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SPEC Lab - Megan Becker","og_url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/","og_site_name":"Megan Becker","article_modified_time":"2023-12-11T23:07:36+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/","name":"SPEC Lab - Megan Becker","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-12-11T22:45:33+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-11T23:07:36+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/spec-lab\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SPEC Lab"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/","name":"Megan Becker","description":"USC Dornsife Megan Becker","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/174\/revisions\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/megan-becker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}