BENJAMIN S. ALLEN, Ph.D.

Arlington, VA | (971) 219-6259 | ben.stewart.allen@gmail.com

Social Scientist with over 7 years experience in international development research and practice.
Trained in and taught rigorous research methods, including survey, statistics, and microeconomic analysis.
Fluent speaker of Spanish and Portuguese.
PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Research Associate Billingsley Energy & Environmental Research, Arlington, VA
September 2015-Present
Project Manager and Technical Writer supporting client product launch
Evaluate current U.S. municipal and community broadband trends and events, write and post regular blogs
Synthesize and analyze publicly available state and county socio-economic data for blog posts and white paper
Research Assistant Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
July 2013-March 2016
Provide research and writing support services for two Professors of Political Science
Assembled original data set on sanitation policy in Argentina from sources in Spanish
Synthesized key political economy and policy literatures, including policy stability, public goods provision
Copy-edited, formatted, and provided substantive feedback on 14 article and book manuscripts
Visiting Instructor Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), Monterey, CA
July 2014, August and November 2015
Taught graduate seminars on Brazilian, Central American history, politics, and security, to 60 junior military officers
Doctoral Researcher Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
June 2010-May 2015
Planned, implemented independent research for dissertation on Brazilian environmental policy and governance
Organized and executed 15 months of field research in Brazil
Prepared, conducted interviews in Portuguese with 90 officials, NGO leaders, scholars in four Brazilian states
Compiled, synthesized, analyzed original data set of political, economic, environmental indicators using R, QGIS
Presented findings to scholars and policy analysts in seminars and national conferences in Brazil and U.S.
Evaluated Brazilian state and federal environmental policy in two studies for academic, non-academic audiences
Graduate Student Instructor Political Science and Economics, UC Berkeley
August 2010-August 2015
Selected 3 times as Head Graduate Student Instructor for Empirical Research Methods Course
Managed course logistics, coordinated lesson planning, student evaluation standards with 15 peer Instructors
Instructed 162 students in rigorous research designs, statistics, survey methods, and microeconomic analysis
Taught courses on international political economy, comparative and European politics
Research Associate UC Berkeley Labor Center, Berkeley and San Mateo, CA
June-August 2008
Conducted, wrote and submitted case study of task force efforts to extend public health care to low-income residents
Identified, contacted, interviewed 12 union officials, county employees, civil society actors
Rural Health and Sanitation Volunteer Peace Corps, Paraguay
January 2004-April 2006
Appointed President of Peace Corps-Paraguay HIV/AIDS Task Force
Organized, directed 3-day HIV/AIDS training for 50 Peace Corps Volunteers and community leaders
Oversaw eight Task Force members, collaborated in development of training content, pedagogical activities
Conducted interviews with key public health officials and activists for study of HIV/AIDS situation, resources
EDUCATION
University of California, Berkeley
PhD Political Science, May 2015
MA
Political Science, May 2008

Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT

BA
Latin American Studies, May 2002

PUBLICATIONS
Allen, Benjamin S. Protecting Nature in Federal Systems: States, Private Interests, and Conservation Units in Brazil.
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 2015.
Allen, Benjamin S. Brazil: Disentangling Green Industry from Brown Consequences. Chapter 12 in Can Green Sustain
Growth? From the Religion to the Reality of Sustainable Prosperity, edited by John Zysman and Mark Huberty, 206-227.
Stanford, CA: Stanford Business Books, 2014.
Fonseca, Igor Ferraz da, Marcel Bursztyn, and Benjamin S. Allen. Trivializing Sustainability: Environmental
Governance and Rhetorical Free-Riders in the Brazilian Amazon. Natural Resources Forum 36 (2012): 28-37.
Allen, Benjamin S. Trends: Pink Tide Rising. Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies, Fall 2008: 1-3.

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH METHODS TRAINING AND TEACHING

Training
Causal Inference in the Social Sciences (Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research, 2013)
Institute for Qualitative and Mixed-Methods Research (Syracuse University, 2010)
Research Design, Statistics, Game Theory course work (UC Berkeley, 2008-2010)
Teaching
Economics 100A: Microeconomic Analysis (UC Berkeley, 2015)
Political Science 3: Empirical Research Methods in Political Science (UC Berkeley, 2012, 2013, 2014)

SELECTED FELLOWSHIPS
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
One of 913 recipients out of 9,000+ applicants for three years of graduate study at UC Berkeley
Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Research Fellowship
One of 77 recipients out of 1,213 applicants for international dissertation field research

2008-2010; 2012-2013

2011-2012

U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship for Portuguese
2007-2008
Funded two semesters of full tuition, fees, and stipend at UC Berkeley, including advanced Portuguese language training

SKILLS
Languages:
Spanish: Fluent
Portuguese: Fluent
Software Proficiency:
Statistical analysis and graphics production in R
GIS analysis, map making using QGIS, ArcGIS
10+ years experience working with MS Office
Trained in STATA for data analysis

International Volunteer Experience:

Rural Health Volunteer, ASAPROSAR, El
Salvador, 1999
Health Volunteer, Amigos de las Amricas,
Honduras, 1997
Health Volunteer, Amigos de las Amricas,
Ecuador, 1996