Nicholas Seltzer

Nicholas Seltzer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Reno. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Stony Brook University (2014), an M.A. in National Security Policy from George Washington University (2007), and a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from University of California, Davis (2003). Prior to academia, Seltzer worked in the defense industry on projects including early warning systems for political instability.

Seltzer's research employs computational approaches to social science, including multiagent simulation, geographic information systems, and big data analytics. Key research areas include the evolution of cooperation and conflict, collective action problems, emergence of social complexity, social media networks, and biopolitics. His work examines climate change responses, tribal conflict dynamics, and political attitude formation through interdisciplinary frameworks combining political science, economics, and evolutionary biology.

Seltzer's publications demonstrate consistent focus on social dynamics in environmental and political contexts. Recent work examines climate justice, cooperation in social networks, and pastoralist conflicts in East Africa. Methodologies include behavioral experiments, computational modeling, and cross-cultural comparisons.

At UNR, Seltzer teaches courses on world politics and mass media in American politics. His research bridges political theory with computational methods, analyzing complex social systems through agent-based modeling and network analysis.