University Fellowship: Ikhsan Darmawan

Ikhsan Darmawan HeadshotMeet Ikhsan Darmawan, a University Fellowship recipient. Ikhsan is a Political Science Ph.D. student studying Transnational and Comparative Politics.

Please give a short overview of your research:

Despite electronic voting’s (or e-voting’s) strengths (e.g., its accuracy), in total there are only 32 countries that have adopted this method of voting in their national elections. My research seeks to answer the question: “Why are some countries driven to adopt e-voting in their national elections while other countries are not driven to do so in theirs?” My dissertation focuses on global e-voting adoption trends (country-level of analysis), and more specifically how these trends manifest in the Philippines and Indonesia (individual-level of analysis). I will be using various methods (survival analysis, quasi-experiment, survey experiment, and expert survey). For the country level of analysis, I include 156 countries by employing the secondary datasets. For the individual level of analysis, I conduct surveys that involve the Indonesian college students and the Philippines’ election experts. I hope that my research could provide a better estimation and explanation on the factors that drive countries to adopt e-voting.

What made you choose to pursue your graduate degree here at Kent State?

My dissertation’s advisor, Dr. Ryan Claassen, is one of the reasons why I chose Kent State as my place to hone my research and writing skills and to earn a doctoral degree. We have similar research interests in election studies, election administration, and e-voting. I also want to master quantitative methods in political science under his supervision.

What do you enjoy most about attending Kent State for graduate school?

I enjoy the process of learning, not only to be an expert in a specific topic but also to be a good independent scholar. Kent State helps me to prepare to become a future expert with their facilities and the support from the faculty members in my department.

What are your future goals?

After I complete my dissertation, my main future goal is to land an academic tenure-track position that can enable and support me to both teach and do research. My second future goal is to be a good researcher/scholar whose publications are acknowledged both by the academic community and the society in general. I really want my academic work to be beneficial not only academically but also practically for the public and the policy-makers.

What does this award mean to you and how will it aid you?

Honestly, I am very honored to be considered for this award among all other incredible candidates. This award means a lot to me because my hard work has been recognized by Kent State. This award will allow me to have more time to focus on writing and finishing my dissertation, and to work on my ongoing manuscripts so that I can have more publications. Likewise, with this award, I can spend more time preparing for the next stage of my academic career.

POSTED: Tuesday, April 5, 2022 11:25 AM
UPDATED: Thursday, March 28, 2024 04:19 AM