Meet the New Research Fellows Joining Yale's Institution for Social and Policy Studies

Rick Harrison Monday, September 28, 2026

Beau Bressler and Martin Devaux talk while seeted on a couch near a window in the ISPS common room — Postdoctoral fellows Beau Bressler, left, and Martin Devaux talk about their work at ISPS.

The Institution for Social and Policy Studies fosters a vibrant community of researchers at all stages of their academic careers, including those who have recently graduated and those who have earned their doctoral degrees.

“One of the most rewarding aspects of our fellowship programs is the opportunity to support exceptionally talented scholars at pivotal moments in their careers,” said ISPS Director Alan Gerber, Sterling Professor of Political Science. “Whether they are preparing for doctoral study or launching an independent research agenda, fellows gain the skills, networks, and experience needed to thrive as researchers and future academic leaders.”

Meet our newest postdoctoral fellows:

Beau Bressler is an applied microeconomist working at the intersection of urban economics, economic history, labor, and public economics. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis while studying how 20th century American urban policies shaped cities and neighborhoods over the long run. At ISPS, he joins the newly launched Government Effectiveness Working Group. Led by Joshua Kalla, Zachary Liscow, and David Schleicher, the group explores evidence-based approaches for how institutions can be designed and reformed to work more effectively for citizens.

Martin Devaux is a postdoctoral associate at ISPS and incoming assistant professor in the Political Science Department. His work broadly focuses on local political economy and the politics of immigrants’ integration in Western democracies. His primary work investigates the determinants of the income-seeking decisions made by immigrants and the reception of these decisions by native voters. Methodologically, his work focuses on external validity and causal inference. He earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 2026.

Our four new predoctoral fellows participate in a two-year program supported by ISPS’s Center for the Study of American Politics (CSAP) and the Tobin Center for Economic Policy. The fellowship aims to immerse scholars in an academic environment to build skills, form relationships, and get a sense of what life is like in a graduate program.

As part of the fellowship, participants work full time as research assistants for ISPS faculty members while taking or auditing academic courses each semester. Fellows also benefit from weekly professional development programming and regular participation in political science and economics research seminars.

Former fellows have gone on to pursue graduate studies at the country’s top institutions. Others have used the experience to help them decide on a different career path.

“One of the greatest strengths of the program is the opportunity it creates for close collaboration between students and faculty,” said Gregory Huber, CSAP director and Forst Family Professor of Political Science. “We are excited to welcome this new group of fellows and look forward to the perspectives and energy they will bring to our community.”

Here are our newest predoctoral fellows:

Harpreet Chohan works with Jacob Hacker, ISPS faculty fellow and Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science, and Paul Pierson, John Gross Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, on the Democratic Party and the knowledge economy. Chohan comes from Stroudsburg, Penn., earning his B.A in political science and economics from from Dickinson College, and his M.Sc. in political science (comparative political economy) from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research interests include the political economy of advanced industrial democracies, the structural power of finance, economic inequality, organized labor, and the emergence of anti-system politics.

Beckett Elkins works with Adam Meirowitz, Damon Wells Professor of Political Science; Alan Gerber, ISPS director and Sterling Professor of Political Science; and Gregory Huber, director of the ISPS Center for the Study of American Politics and Forst Family Professor of Political Science, on issues of political economy. Beckett holds a B.A. in philosophy and global affairs from Yale. His research interests lie in formal theory.

Andrew Modrowsky works with Alan Gerber and Gregory Huber on quantitative political behavior. He graduated from Cornell University with a double major in government and information science and a minor in European studies. His research interests include political institutions and behavior, comparative political economy, and computational social science.

Cordelia Van der Veer works with Allison Harris and Dara Strolovitch on projects related to judicial politics, social movements, and inequality. She graduated with a B.S. in public policy analysis and political Science from The Ohio State University. Her research interests include American political institutions and environmental politics.