I am an assistant professor in the Political Science Department at Kansas State University.  I joined the department in 2008 and I was on leave for two years(2009-2011). 

My primary field is Comparative Politics with a focus on Middle East.  My research focuses on individual attitudes and political behavior related to democracy, religion, political institutions, and foreign policy in the Middle Eastern context.  My work has appeared or is forthcoming in, Comparative Political Studies, International Political Science Review, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, European Union Politics, and International Journal of Middle East Studies. I have also published articles,  a book, and many opinion pieces in Turkish about Middle Eastern and Turkish politics.

I am the principal investigator of two projects: 

I have created two datasets  from the surveys conducted for these projects.The data from these surveys are avialable upon request. 

I teach courses about Middle East Politics, International Relations of the Middle East, Islam and Politics, Research Methods, and Advanced Quantitative Methods. During my leave in 2009-2011, I taught courses about Turkish Politics and Turkish Constitutional System at a Turkish university.