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Doctoral Student of the Month - Michael Echemendia
We are pleased to announce that Michael Echemendia is the December recipient of GSPIA's Matthew B. Ridgway Center "Doctoral Student of the Month" Award.
Michael is a 3rd year PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. His primary and secondary fields are Foreign and Security Policy and International Development Policy. He holds degrees in International Security Studies (M.Litt) from the University of St. Andrews, Theological Studies (MTS) from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, and Political Philosophy and Spanish (BA, Phi Beta Kappa) from Wofford College. Michael’s interest in international affairs began in college. As an undergraduate, he studied Spanish at the University of Salamanca and the University of Alcala de Henares. However, it was 9/11 that actively drove him toward the study of terrorism and political violence. The 9/11 attacks prompted Michael to enroll at the University of St. Andrews where he studied terrorism under Professor Paul Wilkinson, one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject. While at St. Andrews, he developed a fascination with the religious and nationalist motivations and justifications used by suicide attackers. He pursued this interest in his Master’s thesis at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. Michael’s dissertation recognizes that suicide attacks operate at three levels of analysis. It focuses on the individual motivations, the organizational incentives, and the societal justifications that are used to legitimize the tactic. With the global proliferation of suicide attacks and the great damage they can cause, it is crucial for policymakers and scholars to be cognizant of how these levels overlap and interact with one another. When his time at GSPIA comes to an end, Michael hopes to begin a career in public service and then teach at a liberal arts college. |
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