Hathorn Hall, Bates College
RB Raya

I am an undergraduate student studying politics, law, and society with a quantitative focus.

I am a first-generation sophomore student at Bates College (Class of 2028), where I triple major in Politics, Economics (initiated), and Digital & Computational Studies. My coursework spans computational social science, econometrics, microeconomics, and computer science. I am particularly interested in quantitative research methods and formal theory.

Education

Current

Bates College

Politics and Digital & Computational Studies

4.0 GPA
’28 Class Year

Activities: Bates Journal of Political Studies (Managing Editor, Staff Editor); Tanay Youth Vote (Founding Chairperson, Research Director); Bates Initiative for Government Studies (Community Liaison); Southeast Asian Club (Secretary)

Current 2026–2027

St. Catherine’s College, University of Oxford

Jurisprudence (Law) & Economics

Secondary

San Ildefonso College

Humanities and Social Sciences

GWA: 98 · Highest Honors, Leadership Award

Activities: Student Council (President); Social Studies Club (President)

Research Interests

Intraminority intergroup relations Public opinion Political participation Intersectional research methods Political dynasty Election forensics Quantitative political science Mixed epistemology research Violence & nonviolence Game theory

Projects

01

Christian Nationalism

With Dr. Michael Sargent (Bates College), Dr. Rosemary Al-Kire (University of New Hampshire), and Kendall Reed (Bates College ’26)

In the J.A.G. Lab, we study Christian Nationalism through the lens of Social Dominance Theory (SDT). In SDT, beliefs, ideologies, and cultures are categorized as either hierarchy-enhancing (HE) or hierarchy-attenuating (HA). Building on scholarship showing how race moderates the effects of Christian Nationalism on symbolic ideology and attitudes toward racial justice, we inquire into how Christian Nationalism can be more HA among White Americans. To answer this, we plan to conduct a survey experiment this fall.

02

Examining Transnational Solidarity Through Shared Disadvantage

The literature in intraminority intergroup relations suggests that experience of disadvantage may lead to positive or negative intergroup relations. On the one hand, when the dimension of experience of a disadvantaged is different from that of another (e.g., race and gender), the former may have reduced support for the latter. On the other hand, when experiences share a dimension, the support is increased. Scholars have successfully reconciled dimensionally different experiences by framing them in such a way that they are shared. In this study, I attempt to extend this scholarship to transnational solidarity. My preliminary results provide evidence that the disadvantaged have reduced transnational solidarity for another. However, the results are nested on several assumptions and do not provide strong evidence for causality. As such, I plan to conduct a survey experiment, testing whether framing experience of a disadvantaged to make it shared will increase transnational solidarity.

03

Exporting the Second Amendment?

With Dr. Clarisa Perez-Armendariz

This research note was presented at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Conference 2025 in Chicago, IL in April 2025. In this study, we find that Mexicans with migration experience from the United States are 2.16 times more likely to own a gun in Mexico than if they do not have such an experience.

04

Does Development Dismantle Political Dynasties? Evidence from the Philippines

Existing studies provide some evidence of the consequences of political dynasties, such as underdevelopment, poverty, and political violence. This literature, however, assumes that the egg (chicken) comes first before the chicken (egg). In this paper, I present an alternative view of the relationship between development and political dynasties. I then examine the effect of development on political dynasties. Using two-way fixed effects, I find evidence that provincial development is associated with a decrease in the number of dynastic mayors and vice-mayors.