School of Humanities and Sciences
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Paul Lendway
Postdoctoral Scholar, Political Science
BioI am a Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University, specializing in American politics and political economy. In May 2025, I graduated with a Ph.D. in Political Science (with departmental distinction) from Yale University. In 2026, I was selected to receive two awards from the American Political Science Association: the Distinguished Junior Scholar Award in Political Psychology and the Wildavsky Award for Best Dissertation in Religion and Politics. My research is published or accepted in the American Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, American Politics Research, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Environmental Politics, Research & Politics, and the Yale Journal of International Affairs. Additionally, my co-authored research is conditionally accepted at the Journal of Politics.
The norms and rules that comprise American democracy are eroding. Why? What are the consequences of this trend? And what can be done to address this issue? My research program aims to address these questions. One stream of my research investigates how various forms of political communication (i.e., sermon rhetoric, populist appeals, etc.) shape political preferences. Another strand of my research probes the role of information (i.e., information about social movements, inequality, AI, etc.) in structuring public opinion and policy preferences. A final line of my research explores solutions to address the pressures of populism and mass polarization. This includes a project that tests Americans' willingness to compromise on a series of multi-dimensional policy tradeoffs (i.e., a conservative immigration policy and a liberal abortion policy, etc.). -
Kacper Jan Lepionka
Graduate Visiting Researcher Student, Classics
BioKacper is a Fulbright Junior Fellow at Stanford University and a PhD student at the University of Warsaw, where he graduated in History and South Asian Studies. Through the Erasmus+ exchange programme he also studied at Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Freie Universität Berlin, and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris. His research focuses on the history and literature of ancient Greece, particularly the Archaic period, and ancient South Asia, from the beginnings of Buddhism to the end of the Gupta Empire. He is also increasingly interested in evidence of Greek presence in ancient Central and South Asia.
His research compares the “implied audience” of the Homeric poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, with that of the great Sanskrit epics, particularly the Mahabharata and, occasionally, the Ramayana. He is especially interested in how these texts engage with the social and cultural realities of their time. His research aims to deepen our understanding of poetic craft in both epic traditions while offering new insights into their historical contexts.
