Clark University junior Rian Watt from Wilmette presents research at national conference

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Rian L.G. Watt ’14 presented his paper, “Measuring Intensity in Senate Races: A Case Study of Massachusetts and Illinois, 2010,”at the 71st annual conference of the Midwest Political Science Assoc.

WORCESTER, MA (05/06/2013)(readMedia)-- Clark University junior Rian L.G. Watt, of Wilmette, Illinois, recently presented a poster at the 71st annual conference of the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), held in Chicago last month.

Watt, a political science and economics double major, presented his paper, "Measuring Intensity in Senate Races: A Case Study of Massachusetts and Illinois, 2010," which examined the claim-widely presented in the media-that Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley lost her Senate race in 2010 due to poor campaigning.

Watt's paper, which examined the literature on campaign intensity and developed two metrics to evaluate the campaign, revealed that Coakley's campaign performance likely did affect the eventual outcome. This was a very different finding than when compared to the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Illinois, where the media blamed the Democrat's loss on a national wave of election victories for Republicans.

Watt's paper was awarded the Irving '32 and Edith Wilner Prize, a cash prize given annually to a Clark student who has written the best research paper during the academic year for a course in the American politics subfield.

This was the second time Watt has presented a paper at a major academic conference. In 2012, Watt presented his paper, "Conceptions of Nationalism in Adjara and Abkhazia, 2004," at the National Association for Ethnic Studies.

Watt, who is currently studying abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and maintaining his student diary on the Clark website, was able to travel from London to Chicago for the conference due to funds provided by the Political Science Department as part of the Harrington Public Affairs Fellowship.

On campus, Watt serves as a resident advisor for Residential Life and Housing, is a Scarlet Key Student Ambassador for the Admissions Office, and is a copy editor for STIR Magazine, a student lifestyle magazine. He also has recently been elected Student Council President.

Watt is a member of Clark's Class of 2014; he is a 2010 graduate of New Trier Township High School, and is the son of Ian and Lali Watt.