Ahyoung Cho

Hepburn Hall · Canton, NY 13617 · acho@stlawu.edu

I am an Assistant Professor of Environmental Public Policy in the Political Science Department at St. Lawrence University.

My research investigates how racial and ethnic politics shape decision-making in the policy arena, with a particular focus on environmental justice. In my dissertation, I examined how the politics of climate change and racial equity interacts at the city level and how race and ethnicity, gender, and partisanship jointly shape attitudes toward climate change at the individual level.

I am also a part of interdisciplinary research projects that are rooted in urban public policy, racial inequities in health outcomes, and identity politics. As a political methodologist, I use various analytical techniques in my research including network, spatial, and text analyses. My co-authored and solo-authored research has been published in The Journal of Legislative Studies and JAMA Network Open.

I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from Boston University in May 2024.

RESEARCH INTERESTS: Environmental Politics, Climate Justice, Racial Disparities, Urban Politics, Public Opinion and Political Methodology
TEACHING INTERESTS: American Politics, Politics of Climate Change, Environmental Politics, Social and Racial Justice, and Data Science for Politics

Research

Publications

[4] "A dataset of geocoded Medicaid office locations in the United States". (with Paul R. Shafer, Maxwell Palmer, Mara Lynch, Pierce Louis, and Alexandra Skinner). Data in Brief, 2024, Volume 53, 110068. (Read)
[3] "Climate Change Co-Sponsorship Networks in South Korea: Focusing on Formal and Informal Ties of Legislators". The Journal of Legislative Studies, 2023, 29(2), 291-311. (Read)
[2] "COVID-19 Mortality by Race and Ethnicity in US Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas, March 2020 to February 2022" (with Dielle J Lundberg, Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, Rafeya Raquib, Elaine O Nsoesie, Eugenio Paglino, Ruijia Chen, Mathew V Kiang, Alicia R Riley, Yea-Hung Chen, Marie-Laure Charpignon, Katherine Hempstead, Samuel H Preston, Irma T Elo, M Maria Glymour, and Andrew C Stokes). JAMA Network Open, 2023, 6(5), e2311098-e2311098. (Read)
- A preprint of this study was covered by a New York Times article (Read)
[1] "Association of Neighborhood Racial and Ethnic Composition and Historical Redlining With Built Environment Indicators Derived From Street View Images in the US" (with Yukun Yang, Quynh Nguyen, and Elaine O Nsoesie). JAMA Network Open, 2023, 6(1) e2251201-e2251201. (Read)

Working Papers

- Cities, Climate Networks, and Racial Equity
- Local Politics and Racially Equitable Climate Plans: Evidence from 118 Cities in America
- The Intersectionality of Race and Gender in Climate Beliefs and Attitudes in America with Moderating Effect of Partisanship
- My “Kind” of Food: How Ethnic Food Categories Were Changed in Mainstream Media (with Minhyung Kang and Yukun Yang)
- Census Tract Built Environment Resources in Relation to Contemporary Social Characteristics and Historical Redlining (with Yukun Yang, Quynh Nguyen, and Elaine O. Nsoesie)
- Cities’ Approach to Racial Equity Plans is Associated with Political and Sociodemographic Factors (with Elaine O. Nsoesie, Shivam Bhardwaj, Leanne Villareal, and Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba)

Work in Progress

- Computational Analysis of Food Discourses in Traditional and Social Media (with Yukun Yang)

Teaching

Boston University

INSTRUCTOR
- PO 399 Data Science for Politics (Summer II 2023 and Summer I 2024)

Selected comments from students
“The instructor was very knowledgeable and connected class concepts and assignments to real world events and tasks very well.”
“Was incredibly patient and helpful in working to make sure that students understood the concepts being taught in class.”
“I have never taken an actual coding course before that deals with languages like R, so coming into the course I was slightly intimidated. However, Professor Cho's teaching style was perfect for those that had no previous experience with R. She integrated us into R studio well, and then allowed us to delve deeper towards the end of the course.”
“The instructor was very friendly, approachable, answered questions clearly, graded quickly and more than fairly, and was very understanding of the fact that I had never coded before.”

TEACHING FELLOW
- SJ 101 Social and Racial Justice: Systems and Structures (with discussion sections; Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
- PO 111 Introduction to American Politics (with discussion sections; Fall 2020, Fall 2022)
- PO 313 The Politics and Policy of HBO's The Wire (Spring 2022)
- PO 303 It's a Free Country: Civil Liberties in America (Spring 2021)
- PO 843 Maximum Likelihood Estimation (Spring 2020)

Selected comments from students
“Ahyoung Cho was a great instructor. Her ability to further explain concepts we discussed in class was really helpful to me and the section provide many resources that I was able to use when studying for the exams.”
“Ahyoung is very approachable and always willing to help however she can"
“She absolutely knew what she was talking about. I also just really liked her attitude. She had a very no nonsense way about her that I really respected.”
“She is very knowledgeable and is able to explain concepts when people are confused.”
“Ahyoung was absolutely amazing!! Could not praise her enough! She was available to answer any questions I had, responded to emails quickly, and really connected with us in class. She would follow up on questions asked virtually in person, which really made me feel cared for. She was always prepared, listened to us well, and provided helpful insight and perspectives.”
“The discussions Ahyoung held were absolutely incredible. In these discussions, my classmates and I engaged in respectful, deep discussions of class content and our own experiences.”
“She always encouraged our participation and rather than knocking us down if someone answered incorrectly, she would instead guide us towards the correct answer and applaud the student for trying.”

GRADER
- PO 502 Political Analysis (Fall 2020)

Education

Boston University

Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science
Dissertation: Three Essays on the Politics of Climate Change Through the Lens of Race
Committee: Katherine Levine Einstein, Spencer Piston, Maxwell Palmer, and David Glick
Comprehensive Exams: American Politics and Political Methodology

September 2018 - May 2024

Seoul National University

Master of Public Policy

Thesis: Exploring factors influencing air quality performance - Focusing on socio-economic factors and spatial effects

September 2016 - August 2018

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Bachelor of Arts with Distinction and Bachelor of Musical Arts with Highest Honors
International Studies (Comparative Culture and Identity Track) and Piano Performance

September 2012 - April 2016

CV

Please request my CV via email: acho@stlawu.edu