Welcome to my personal website! My name is Alexander (Alex) Ross, and I’m a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Riverside (completing Summer 2024). I will be a Postdoctoral researcher at Université Laval in Quebec, starting Fall 2024 onward. I am also on the academic job market for 2025-2026.
My dissertation project deals with the politics of personal debt, specifically student loan debt, and how debt impacts the political attitudes and behaviors of both debtors and non-debtors. I investigate the ways in which the somewhat unique position that debtors occupy in society (being a relatively privileged group in one sense, and a relatively disadvantaged one in another) influences both how debtors think and act politically, as well as how non-debtors perceive debtors and policies that benefit them. My CV, which includes more information on my dissertation and other research interests and projects, can be found here.
I also have a Masters in Public Policy from the School of Public Policy at the same institution. My capstone project explored the connection between public transit access and eviction rates in areas of concentrated poverty in Riverside County.
Prior to entering graduate school, I briefly taught English in Beijing and participated in City Year Los Angeles, an AmeriCorps program that provides after-school services in high-need areas. In my spare time, I read broadly and run slower than I would like.
Alex Ross 