Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado APSA Candidate Statement

Career and Accomplishments

Dr. Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and Assistant Director for Research and Outreach of the Office of Latino/Latin American Initiatives of the Great Plains (OLLAS). He is also a Senior Research Associate with the University of Georgia’s Center for International Trade and Security specializing on Latin American economic development and security affairs. He has conducted research related to Cuba’s efforts to develop a nuclear energy capability and broader energy development issues and is recognized as one of the United States’ leading specialists in this issue area. He has published numerous articles, monographs and commentaries on this subject in Spanish, Russian, German and English in newspapers, scholarly and policy journals. His book, Power to the People: Energy and the Cuban Nuclear Program (2000) was published by Routledge, Inc. He is presently coordinating a research project with the Brookings Institution on the geo-strategic and U.S. national security implications of Cuban energy development policy.

Dr. Benjamin-Alvarado has received the University of Nebraska Alumni Excellence in Teaching Award and the Outstanding Teaching in Political Science Award from Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society. He is past president of the Latino Caucus of the American Political Science Association and has served on the APSA’s Minority Programs Review Implementation Committee. He has received numerous grants including: grants from the U.S. Department of Education, John Beverly and Elena Diaz-Verson Amos Foundation; The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; The Ford Foundation; The Johns Hopkins University Cuba Exchange Program (partial list).