Ohio Northern University senior John Curiel, a political science major from Crystal Lake, Ill., participated in a Summer Research Academy at Texas A&M University over the summer.

Curiel was just one of 15 undergraduate students to be selected for the program, which is aimed at improving students’ chances of succeeding in competitive graduate programs as well as highly selective careers.

The Summer Research Academy is a five-week, research-intensive pilot Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, aimed at expanding and enhancing the undergraduate research experience of students in political science through analysis and research methods training.

Curiel’s research focused on “How does military conscription affect incumbent voter share when casualties mount in conflicts?” In his research paper, Curiel hypothesized that incumbents of nations with military conscription would lose voter share as casualties increase.

Over the five weeks, Curiel wrote the paper and presented his research to peers, graduate students, Texas A&M faculty and others at the end of the program.

“The Texas A&M program was an excellent chance to prepare for graduate school, perfect research methods, meet giants in the field of political science and more,” Curiel said.