معرفی
Thomas Mustillo is an associate professor of global affairs at the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, where he also serves as a concurrent professor of political science and program coordinator of the data science minor. He has been a Kellogg Institute faculty fellow since 2018 and is currently on leave for the 2024-25 academic year.
Mustillo earned his BA in government and economics from Notre Dame and completed his PhD at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
As a comparative political scientist, Mustillo's research focuses on democratic representation, party politics, and governance, with particular attention to highly unstable electoral contexts in Latin America. His methodological expertise spans quantitative research methods, agent-based modeling, and complexity science, allowing him to analyze political phenomena through innovative computational approaches. His work bridges political science theory with data science applications.
Mustillo's publications reveal a consistent focus on party system transformation, electoral volatility, and democratic representation. His research often examines Latin American politics, particularly Ecuador, while developing broader theoretical frameworks applicable to democratizing contexts worldwide. A recurring theme is understanding how political parties adapt to changing electoral landscapes and voter behavior.
- Frank Cass Award for Best Article published in Democratization (2017)
- Charles and Kathleen Manatt Fellowship (2024)
- Luksic Family Collaboration Grant (2018-19)
- Grants to Support Faculty Fellows' Research: Networks of Democratizing Policy Reforms (2022-2023)
- Grants to Support Faculty Fellows' Research: The Volatility of Political Attachments (2019-2020)
Mustillo serves in several editorial and advisory capacities, including as an associate editor of Democratization, editor of the European Journal of Political Research's Political Data Yearbook, and advisory board member for the Latin American Electronic Data Archive at the University of Texas at Austin. His research has been supported by multiple grants focusing on democracy, social policy, and political volatility.
As program coordinator for Notre Dame's data science minor, Mustillo bridges political science with computational approaches. His work involves extensive field research in Latin America, particularly in Ecuador, Venezuela, Haiti, and Costa Rica, where he has conducted archival research and elite interviews to understand party competition and democratic development.
