Sarah K. Dreier

Sarah K. Dreier serves as Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of New Mexico, where she integrates computational methods with traditional political science research. Her work bridges comparative politics, human rights studies, and data science through innovative applications of natural language processing.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Political Science, University of Washington - Seattle (2019)
• B.A., Northwestern University

Research Focus: Dreier specializes in analyzing government rationalizations for human rights abuses, state oppression dynamics, and the intersection of religion with gender/sexuality politics. Her methodological approach uniquely combines qualitative analysis with computational text mining, particularly examining how governments justify rights violations through discourse. Fieldwork spans East Africa, Western Europe, and the United States, with recent projects investigating religious diversity's impact on sexual minority attitudes in Africa and legislative rhetoric patterns.

Publication Trends: Her scholarly output demonstrates increasing methodological sophistication, evolving from traditional case studies to advanced NLP applications. Recent work focuses on computational analysis of government rhetoric, media framing of violence, and algorithmic bias in text analysis. Geographic scope centers on Africa while incorporating US legislative behavior and European conflict cases, reflecting her comparative framework.

Scientific Recognition:

• NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Political Science and Computer Science and Engineering
• Data Science Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Washington's eScience Institute

Professional Development: Prior to academia, Dreier gained policy experience at the Center for American Progress and World Bank consultancy. Her research has secured competitive interdisciplinary funding, particularly supporting her innovative work at the political science-computer science interface. Current projects emphasize undergraduate research integration through experiential learning models that advance both teaching and faculty scholarship.