Personnel
Steven Kull, Director of the Center on Policy Attitudes, is a political psychologist specializing in the study of public and elite attitudes on public policy issues. He founded COPA in 1992. His most recent book, co-authored with I.M. Destler, is Misreading the Public: The Myth of a New Isolationism (Brookings Institution Press, 1999). Dr. Kull has been interviewed on CNN, NBC, BBC, NPR, the PBS series "Great Decisions," C-SPAN, Monitor Radio, the Defense Monitor, News Talk TV, the award-winning documentary "Faces of the Enemy" and other radio and TV news programs. He regularly gives briefings for Congress, the State Department, NATO, the UN and the EU. In the 1980s, as a fellow at the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University, he carried out a study which resulted in his book, Minds at War: Nuclear Reality and the Inner Conflicts of Defense Policymakers (Basic Books). Later, he carried out a study of Soviet 'new thinking' , publishing his findings as Burying Lenin: The Revolution in Soviet Ideology and Foreign Policy (Westview Press). He was a SSRC MacArthur Fellow and has taught at Stanford University. His articles have appeared in Foreign Policy, Harper's, Public Opinion Quarterly, The Washington Post and The Christian Science Monitor. Dr. Kull is a faculty member at the School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
Clay Ramsay, COPA Research Director and CISSM fellow, has been with COPA since 1992. With a background in history and psychology, he has focused on the study of ideology and mass psychology. He received his Ph.D. in history from Stanford University, has taught at Oberlin College, and is the author of The Ideology of the Great Fear (Johns Hopkins, 1992).
Stephen J. Weber, Chief Operating Officer of the Center on Policy Attitudes, is a social psychologist. Prior to COPA, he was Executive Vice President at Synovate, a top 10 global survey and market research organization where he headed the Public Sector Research division and the firm's specialized industry groups. He has directed major survey programs for such clients as the National Institutes of Health, the Center for Disease Control, the Federal Reserve and for many Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Weber received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Northwestern University.
Evan Scot Lewis, is a Research Associate at PIPA. He received his Bachelors Degree at the University of Colorado and his Masters Degree at The American University. As a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Maryland, his research interest have focused on international relations, political economy, and the politics of land use management in Colorado and Maryland. He was a Harrison Fellow and has taught at both the University of Maryland and George Washington University.
Melanie Ciolek, is a Research Assistant. She received her Bachelors degree in international politics from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Her past research interests have focused on presidential leadership in Argentina in the 1990s and U.S. approaches to multilateralism.
Abe Medoff, is a Research and Administrative Assistant. He received a BA in International Affairs with concentrations in Conflict & Security and International Politics from The George Washington University. His research interests include military affairs, terrorism, and Central Asia.
