![\"voting.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/news.fiu.edu\/2022\/2020\/_assets\/voting.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nFIU experts are available to discuss 2022 elections and a wide range of topics including foreign relations, the economy, voting, immigration and reproductive rights.<\/span><\/p>\n If you have any questions or need assitance,\u00a0contact the Office of Media Relations.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Kathryn DePalo-Gould Brian Fonseca Eduardo Gamarra<\/strong> Guillermo Grenier Sara Moats\u00a0 Dario Moreno<\/strong> Randy Pestana<\/strong> Alex Crowther<\/strong> Davina Clarke Phillip M. Carter Jorge Duany<\/strong> Eduardo Gamarra<\/strong> Deanne Butchey Jos\u00e9 M. Gabilondo Jerry Haar<\/strong> Tobias Pfutze Manuel Lasaga Jorge Salazar-Carrillo Mihaela Pintea Mark del Pezzo Latin America<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Eduardo Gamarra<\/strong> Jerry Haar<\/strong> Jose Miguel Cruz Europe and Russia Tatiana Kostadinova\u00a0 David Kramer Markus Thiel<\/strong> Middle East<\/em> Eric Lob Cyra Akila Choudhury Eduardo Gamarra<\/strong> Guillermo Grenier Ediberto Rom\u00e1n Sebastian Arcos<\/strong> Dr. Eneida O. Roldan<\/strong> Cyra Choudhury<\/strong>National Politics<\/h2>\n
University instructor, Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
<\/strong>DePalo has extensive experience in state and local government processes and elections both in Connecticut and Florida. She has managed several campaigns, including a successful countywide judicial campaign in Broward County, Florida. Her teaching focus is American politics, including judicial process, gender and politics, and state and local government. DePalo\u2019s primary research interest is in Florida politics. She has published on topics such as state judicial selection, the effects of gender in state legislative politics, and career paths of term-limited legislators.\u00a0
Cell:\u00a0<\/strong>954-608-8368
Email:\u00a0<\/strong>depalok@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
Director, Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy\u00a0
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
<\/strong>Fonseca serves as the institute\u2019s technical expert for national security and foreign policy. He has been featured in local and national media analyzing the 2016, 2018, 2020 U.S. general elections. He currently serves as the political analyst for WSVN Channel 7 (Fox network affiliate). Fonseca is also an international Security Fellow at the DC-based think tank New America. Fonseca joined FIU after serving as the senior research manager for socio-cultural analysis at United States Southern Command. From 1997 to 2004, he served in the United States Marine Corps and facilitated the training of foreign military forces in both hostile theaters and during peacetime operations.
Office:\u00a0<\/strong>305-348-7420
Cell:\u00a0<\/strong>305-218-6323
Email:<\/strong>\u00a0fonsecab@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
<\/strong>Eduardo Gamarra has conducted\u00a0two polls<\/a> on Hispanic voters in the U.S. and Florida. He also has done research on the regional dynamics of Latin America, including Cuba\u2019s role. As an expert in Bolivia and the Andean region, he has followed closely the alliances formed by Fidel Castro, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Gamarra has also studied drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the effects of American policies in regional dynamics. He has testified in front of U.S. Congress several times and is the author of more than half a dozen books and more than forty academic articles on Latin America. Gamarra is available for interviews in English and Spanish.\u00a0<\/strong>
Cell:<\/strong>\u00a0786-253-4898
Email:<\/strong>\u00a0Eduardo.Gamarra@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
Chair, Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies<\/strong>
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs<\/strong>
Grenier is a professor of sociology and lead researcher in charge of the FIU Cuba Poll, which measures the attitudes and opinions of Cuban Americans in South Florida on issues ranging from their support for the U.S. embargo to their party preference. In addition to the poll, he is the author of books such as \u201cMiami Now: Immigration, Ethnicity and Social Change;\u201d \u201cLegacy of Exile: Cubans in the United States;\u201d and \u201cThis Land is Our Land: Newcomers and Established Residents in Miami,\u201d in which he is a co-author. He has also written numerous articles on labor and ethnic issues in the United States. Grenier is available for interviews in English and Spanish.<\/strong>
Office:<\/strong>\u00a0305-348-3217
Cell:\u00a0<\/strong>305-388-6469
Email:\u00a0<\/strong>Guillermo.Grenier@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
Associate professor, Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
<\/strong>Moats has an interest in group politics and studies group interactions from several perspectives. Her research analyzes how and why organized interests become involved with foreign governments and intergovernmental organizations, and why a group would expand beyond the domestic political arena to lobby additional venues. Moats is currently examining group involvement in several different policy areas, including environmental policy and human rights.
Office:\u00a0<\/strong>305-348-4279
Cell:\u00a0<\/strong>304-282-5159
Email:\u00a0<\/strong>sara.moats@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
Associate professor, Department of Politics & International Relations\u00a0
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
<\/strong>Moreno holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and conducts research on Miami politics, Florida politics, and Cuban American politics. He has published over 20 scholarly articles, book chapters, and two books. Moreno is a nationally recognized expert on Florida and Miami politics and is often quoted in both national and local media. He has been a Pew Scholar at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Fulbright scholar in Costa Rica. He teaches courses on Miami politics, Cuban politics, Florida politics and urban politics
Office:<\/strong>\u00a0305-349-3854
Email:<\/strong>\u00a0dario.moreno@fiu.edu<\/a><\/u> or\u00a0darmrn@aol.com<\/a><\/p>\n
Associate director of cybersecurity policy, Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs<\/strong>
Pestana specializes in international relations with a focus on U.S. foreign policy, electoral politics, global security and U.S.-Latin American relations. His work examines governance and security in the Western Hemisphere including U.S. national security strategy, cybersecurity, civil-military relations and rule of law. Pestana was charged with leading the Gordon Institute\u2019s 2016 and 2020 Presidential Election coverage and has conducted numerous interviews with both local and national media. Pestana is an adjunct professor for the Green School and the Honors College.\u00a0
Office:\u00a0<\/strong>305-348-0114
Email:\u00a0<\/strong>rpestana@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\nCybersecurity\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Visiting professor, Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy\u00a0
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs<\/strong>
Prior to coming to FIU, Crowther worked on cyber and European issues at the National Defense University (NDU) in Washington, D.C. and continues to lecture on cybersecurity at the Organization of American States (OAS) as well cyber law\/crime\/terror at NDU\u2019s College of Information and Cyberspace (CIC).\u00a0
Email:\u00a0<\/strong>gcrowthe@fiu.edu<\/a>
Nagarajan Prabakar
Associate professor, School of Computing and Information Sciences
Undergraduate director, cybersecurity program
College of Engineering & Computing
<\/strong>Prabakar has more than 30 years in the field of computing and extensive expertise in the field of cybersecurity. Prabakar can discuss what security vulnerabilities within the U.S. network allow cybersecurity attacks to happen and what can be done to prevent future attacks.
Office:<\/strong>\u00a0305-348-2033
Office:<\/strong>\u00a0prabakar@cis.fiu.edu<\/a> \u00a0
Selcuk Uluagac
Associate professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering & Computing
<\/strong>Uluagac is a cybersecurity professor who currently leads the Cyber-Physical Systems Security Lab (CSL). His research focuses on cybersecurity and privacy with an emphasis on its practical and applied aspects.
Phone:<\/strong>\u00a0305-348-3710
Email:<\/strong>suluagac@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\nBody Language<\/span><\/h2>\n
Instructor, Department of Communication
College of Communication, Architecture & the Arts
<\/strong>Clarke has more than 15 years of teaching experience in communication and is the director for business communication at FIU. Her interests include persuasion, nonverbal communication, conflict management, and business communication.
Office:<\/strong>\u00a0305-348-9056
Email: <\/strong>daclarke@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\nHispanic Vote<\/span><\/h2>\n
Assistant professor, Cuban Research Institute
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Director, Center for the Humanities in an Urban Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
<\/strong> Carter is a sociolinguist and a scholar of language and culture in U.S. Latino communities specializing in issues related to language in U.S. Latino communities, including Spanish in the United States, Spanish\/English bilingualism, Spanish in U.S. politics, and popular discourses about language. Carter teaches courses at FIU on sociolinguistics, language in U.S. Latino communities, languages and cultures and the world, gender and language, and others. Carter is affiliate faculty in FIU\u2019s Cuban Research Institute, Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center, African and African Diaspora Studies Program and Women\u2019s and Gender Studies Program.
Office:\u00a0<\/strong>305-348-1149
Cell:\u00a0<\/strong>213-359-6215
Email:\u00a0<\/strong>pmcarter@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
Director, Cuban Research Institute<\/strong>
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs<\/strong>
Jorge Duany is director of the\u00a0Cuban Research Institute<\/a>\u00a0and a professor of anthropology. He earned his Ph.D. in Latin American Studies, specializing in anthropology, at the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds an M.A. in social sciences from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in psychology from Columbia University. Duany has published extensively on migration, ethnicity, race, nationalism, and transnationalism in the Caribbean and the United States. He is available for Spanish language interviews.
Office:\u00a0<\/strong>305-348-1991
Email:\u00a0<\/strong>joduany@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
Please see bio above under National Politics.<\/a><\/p>\nEconomy<\/h2>\n
Teaching professor, Department of Finance
College of Business<\/strong>
Butchey performs research in Environmental, Social, and Governance Investing and Analysis including CEO compensation and sustainability issues. She can discuss short- and long-term changes in markets and stages in investment process. Before joining FIU, Butchey worked as an Investment Banker and Financial Services Stock Research Analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston in their Toronto offices. Prior to this, she was a stockbroker at Scotia McLeod and Merrill Lynch in Toronto.
Office:\u00a0<\/strong>305-348-7238
Cell:<\/strong>\u00a0954-257-4911
Email: <\/strong>butcheyd@fiu.edu<\/a>
<\/u><\/p>\n
Professor of law
College of Law
<\/strong>Prior to joining FIU Law, Gabilondo worked in financial market regulation at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the World Bank. Gabilondo teaches tax and corporate finance. His scholarship focuses on debt markets and heterosexual subject formation in law. He is a nationally recognized commentator in Spanish-language media on financial and economic matters. Gabilondo is available for interviews in English and Spanish.<\/strong>\u00a0
Cell:\u00a0<\/strong>305-710-5656
Email: <\/strong>jose.gabilondo@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
Professor, Department of International Business
College of Business<\/strong>
Haar was director of Washington Programs for the Council of the Americas, a New York-based business association of over 200 corporations comprising a majority of U.S. private investment in Latin America and served as special assistant to two cabinet secretaries. He can address issues of international business and economics including the economies of Latin America, financial markets, and competitiveness. Haar is available for interviews in English and Spanish.<\/strong>
Office:<\/strong>\u00a0305-919-4222
Cell:<\/strong>\u00a0786-338-5100
Email:<\/strong>\u00a0 haarj@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
Assistant professor and graduate director, Department of Economics
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
<\/strong>Pfutze is a professor of economics whose research focuses on health, labor and institutional economics, primarily in middle income countries in Latin America. His research has been published in leading academic journals in these fields. His current work is focused on Mexico\u2019s tax financed health insurance program. Pfutze is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
Office:<\/strong>\u00a0305-348-231
Email:\u00a0<\/strong>tpfutze@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Clinical professor, Department of Finance
College of Business<\/strong>
As a business economist, Lasaga has more than 25 years\u2019 experience advising entrepreneurs, multinational corporations, financial institutions, government agencies and professional services firms. He has a nationally recognized capability for independent analysis of the Florida, U.S., and Latin American economies and financial markets and is an advisor to banks in the areas of strategic planning and asset\/liability management. He is also an investment advisor. He has held high-level positions with Citicorp in New York, Wharton Econometrics in Philadelphia and Southeast Bank in Miami. In addition, he has consulted for 18 years with the World Bank, specializing in the evaluation of capital markets and development projects in emerging markets.\u00a0Lasaga is available for interviews in English and Spanish.<\/strong>
Office:<\/strong> 305-348-8307
Email:<\/strong>mlasaga@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Professor of economics and director, Center of Economic Research
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs<\/strong>
Salazar is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a consultant for both the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). His areas of interest include economic integration, international trade and finance and labor economics. He has conducted research on Venezuela\u2019s oil sector and Latin America\u2019s capital markets in the 1990s. He has also published two books on Cuba and has a third coming out this fall from Transaction Press. Salazar-Carillo is available for interviews in English and Spanish.<\/strong>
Office:<\/strong>\u00a0305-348-3283
Cell:<\/strong>\u00a0305-915-0063
Email:<\/strong>\u00a0Jorge.Salazar-Carrillo@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Associate professor, Department of Economics
<\/strong>Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
<\/strong>Pintea is\u00a0an associate professor of economics whose research interests span macroeconomics, economic growth and development, as well as demographic economics.\u00a0She has worked on public policy and the way governments can affect growth through taxation and the provision of public goods; how R&D, learning, structural change and international trade affect labor productivity; and how family structure affects female labor participation and household welfare.
Office:<\/strong> 305-348-3733
Cell:<\/strong> 786-546-3802
Email:<\/strong>pinteam@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Associate teaching professor, Department of Finance
<\/strong>College of Business
<\/strong>del Pezzo is a CFA and former investment banker and portfolio manager for numerous depository institutions and trust departments. The courses he teaches include advanced investments and financial management. He has worked as a portfolio manager at both Raymond James and Deutsch Bank.
<\/span>Office: <\/strong>305-348-8459
<\/span>Cell:<\/strong> 904-707-8992
Email: <\/strong>mdelpezz@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\nForeign Policy<\/h2>\n
Please see bio above under National Politics<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Please see bio above under Economy<\/a>.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Director of research, Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center
<\/strong>Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs<\/strong>
Cruz is an expert in criminal violence, gangs, police, democratization, and public opinion in Latin America. He was the director of the University Institute of Public Opinion at the University of Central America in San Salvador from 1994 to 2006 and has worked as a consultant for organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank. In addition to his work at the Green Center, Cruz is a visiting assistant professor in the\u00a0Department of Politics and International Relations.
Office:<\/strong>\u00a0305-348-2556
Email:<\/strong>\u00a0jose.cruz6@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
<\/strong>Kostadinova\u2019s research and teaching interests include Central and Eastern European political institutions with a special emphasis on elections, electoral systems and electoral behavior; institutional reform; democratic transition; political corruption; comparative public policy; and public support for foreign policies. Kostadinova teaches undergraduate courses in Russian and Eastern European politics, electoral behavior, and research methods, and graduate courses in institutional choice, democratic transitions, political parties, and advanced research. She has also conducted field work in Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia. Kostadinova has authored and co-authored articles, book chapters and book reviews. Kostadinova can talk about U.S. diplomatic relations with Russia. She is fluent in English, Bulgarian and Russian.
Office:\u00a0<\/strong>305-348-4493<\/p>\n
Senior fellow, Vaclav Havel Program for Human Rights and Diplomacy
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs<\/strong>
An internationally known expert on Russia and U.S.-Russia relations, the Ukraine and human rights, Kramer is the former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor under President George W. Bush. Kramer is available to speak on all aspects of U.S. foreign policy toward Russia, including Russian cyberattacks, the spread of \u201cfake news,\u201d and Russian military intervention in Ukraine, Crimea and Syria. He has written extensively for\u00a0The Washington Post,\u00a0\u00a0Politico,\u00a0\u00a0Foreign Policy\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0The American Interest.
<\/em>Office:<\/strong>\u00a0214-200-4366
Email:<\/strong>\u00a0DKramer@bushcenter.org<\/a>
<\/a><\/p>\n
Director, EU\/Jean Monnet Center of Excellence
Associate professor, Department of Politics and International Relations\u00a0
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs<\/strong>
Thiel\u2019s areas of expertise include the politics of the European Union and Western Europe, as well as its political sociology and identity. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on international relations, comparative Western European politics, European Union Politics, international relations of Europe, and international organizations. He has published several articles and book chapters at the European Union Center of Excellence and others. Thiel is a research associate at the\u00a0Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence\u00a0and is an affiliated faculty member of the FIU\u00a0European Studies Program. Thiel is available for interviews for European-Union related questions on the immigration crisis in Europe and other topics.
Office:<\/strong>\u00a0305-348-4493
Email:<\/strong>thielm@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n
Associate professor, Department of Politics and International Relations<\/strong>
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs<\/strong>
Lob\u2019s research focuses on the intersection of development and politics in the Middle East. His research specifically examines how state and non-state actors in the region use development to further their political interests domestically and internationally. \u00a0He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria.\u00a0Lob teaches courses on Middle Eastern politics and international relations, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and political violence and revolution. Lob can speak about the Middle East\u2019s historical and contemporary issues, events, policies, developments, and trends, such as America\u2019s allies and local governments, popular uprisings and regional instability (Iraq, Syria, and Yemen), the U.S. invasion of Iraq and rise of ISIS\/ISIL, the Saudi-Iranian rivalry and Iranian nuclear program, and Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace.
Cell:<\/strong>\u00a0914-261-3225
Email:<\/strong>elob@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\nImmigration<\/h2>\n
Professor
College of Law<\/strong>
Choudhury teaches Family Law, Information and Data Privacy Law, Law and Science and Technology, Law and Artificial Intelligence: Robots, Algorithms and Justice, Women in the Law, African American and Minority Jurisprudence, Sales, and Islamic Law. She is co-editor of \u201cIslamophobia and the Law,\u201d a field-defining book conceptualized by her and that brings together scholarship on Islamophobia in the U.S. As an acknowledged expert in comparative and international human rights and gender law, transnational surrogacy, law in Muslim majority countries, and Muslims as minorities, and legal theories of gender and race, she has appeared on television and interviewed by local and national media. Her current work focuses on the role of technology in family, surveillance technology and race and gender, law, and privacy, and technology and democracy.
Office:<\/strong>\u00a0305-348-1153
Cell:<\/strong>\u00a0240-462-1603
Email:<\/strong>choudhuc@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/u>Please see bio above under National Politics<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Please see bio above under National Politics<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Professor
College of Law
<\/strong>Rom\u00e1n is a nationally acclaimed scholar and an award-winning educator. Before entering academia, he specialized in securities and antitrust litigation at several Wall Street law firms. His teaching experience includes contracts, torts, corporations, comparative corporate law, products liability, agency and partnership, antitrust, citizenship studies, law and accounting, race and the law, remedies and street law. He has been asked to testify before governmental bodies on immigration reform and has visited the White House on several occasions to address matters related to immigration policy, and the judicial vacancy debate. His principal research interest involves analyzing the construction and interpretation of constitutional law and immigration policy. His research deals with the intersection of, on one hand, citizenship law, immigration law, public international law, and constitutional law and, on the other hand, theoretical perspectives based on classic philosophy, neo-liberal theory, critical race theory, post-colonial studies, diaspora literature, and social theory generally. Areas of interest and expertise include constitutional law, civil rights and diversity issues.
Office:\u00a0<\/strong>305-348-7254
Cell:\u00a0<\/strong>954-326-6645
Email: <\/strong>romane@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n
Assistant director, Cuban Research Institute<\/strong>
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs<\/strong>
Arco\u2019s father and uncle were active participants in Castro\u2019s revolutionary movement and briefly held important governmental positions but were soon disillusioned by the new regime\u2019s totalitarian nature. His entire family was arrested and sent to prison for attempting to leave Cuba illegally in 1981. In 1987 he joined the Cuban Committee for Human Rights (CCPDH), the first independent Cuban human rights organization, and was part of the CCPDH team who met with the Special Group from the UN Commission on Human Rights who visited the island in 1988. He was finally allowed to leave Cuba in 1992. For three consecutive years (1995, 1996, 1997) Arcos was part of the Freedom House delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland. He later advised the U.S. Department of State on issues concerning human rights in Cuba between 1998 and 2000.\u00a0Arcos is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
Office:<\/strong>\u00a0305-348-7250
Cell:<\/strong>\u00a0305-431-4576
Email:\u00a0<\/strong>Sebastian.Arcos@fiu.edu<\/a><\/p>\nHealth Care Policy
CEO, FIU HealthCare Network
Associate dean for Internal Affairs
Associate dean, Master in Physician Assistant Studies
Professor, Department of Pathology
Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
<\/strong>Dr. Roldan is the immediate past CEO and President for the Jackson Health System in Miami, one of the largest safety net health systems in the country. Prior to this role, she was court-appointed as President and CEO of Pan American Hospital, a Miami-Dade community hospital under Chapter 11 that successfully emerged from bankruptcy under her leadership. Roldan has over 30 years\u2019 experience in the health care industry having served in multiple roles both in the private and public sector including administrative roles in the non-for-profit and for-profit sectors; private practice; consulting, and in academia (nationally and internationally). Roldan is a known national and international speaker in the areas of obesity, health policy, health care reform, health care management and systems and leadership. In addition to her medical, public health and business degrees; she has attained Wharton alumni status at the prestigious Wharton (Business) School of the University of Pennsylvania. Roldan is available for interviews in English and Spanish.<\/strong>\u00a0
To speak with Dr. Roldan, please contact Ileana Varela at\u00a0305-348-4926, ilvarela@fiu.edu<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nReproductive Rights<\/h2>\n
Please see bio above under Immigration<\/a>.<\/p>\n