Dr Paul J. Angelo

In deciding among PhD programs, I was looking for a department that would be challenging, stimulating, and supportive, and I have absolutely no regrets about my decision to attend the Institute of the Americas. The interdisciplinary nature of the department exposed me to ideas and methodologies that I otherwise might not have discovered. Working alongside colleagues whose intellectual interests were so varied but who nonetheless had a strong foundation in the Americas made for riveting discussions and collaboration. 

As a U.S. citizen, I also appreciated the distance from my research topics--both geographic and emotional--that study in London provided. My focus on U.S.-Latin American relations was less subject to the biases that one might find in a comparable department stateside, and the diversity of ideologies, backgrounds, and disciplines represented at the Institute of the Americas helped strengthen my thesis' analysis and conclusions. I also enjoyed interacting with UCL's superb undergraduates while serving as a postgraduate teaching assistant--an experience I would recommend to current and future PhD students in the department. 

I continue to lean on faculty members and former students from the Institute for professional advice and geopolitical analysis in my current role as a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. And I have continued to refine my thesis, a version of which will be published as a book in 2022. 

Dr Angelo completed his PhD in 2019. His dissertation is titled: 'Security Sector Reform and U.S. Security Assistance Strategy in Latin America in the 21st Century: The Cases of Colombia, Mexico, and Honduras.' He worked under the supervision of Professor Kevin Middlebrook and Dr Katherine Saunders-Hastings. As of June 21, 2022, Dr Angelo is Director of the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies.

Learn more about his research project here.

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