The American Political Science Association (APSA) is pleased to announce Kyshan Nichols-Smith '25 has been named as a 2025-2026 APSA Diversity Fellowship Program (DFP) Fellow.
Kyshan Nichols-Smith is a graduating senior at Morehouse College majoring in political science. His research interests center on the political behavior of Black Americans, and how experiences with political institutions shape the political participation of marginalized communities. He explores these interests in his senior thesis which explores the limitations of existing measures of Black ideology and highlights the way conservatism changes the perceptions of racial group norms among Black Americans.
Kyshan advanced his research abilities during his time as a 2024 Ralph Bunche Summer Institute Scholar, and through the Morehouse Community Data Fellowship, where he co-authored papers centering on racial disparities at the state level, including: “Data Discrepancies, Fatal Police Interactions, and State Politics in the United States” and “Examining Polling Location Closures After The Shelby County Decision.” Kyshan aspires to pursue a PhD in political science to expand the discipline’s understanding of the nuances of Black political behavior and to improve the measurement of complex political phenomena among underrepresented Americans.
The DFP, formerly the Minority Fellowship Program, was established in 1969 as a fellowship competition to diversify the political science profession. Since 1969, the APSA Diversity Fellowship Program has designated more than 600 Fellows, both funded and unfunded, and contributed to the completion of doctoral political science programs for over 100 individuals. Fall fellows are college or university seniors, recent college graduates, or master's students who plan on applying to a PhD program in political science. Spring fellows are first and second year PhD students in political science. APSA Diversity Fellows are very active in the discipline as faculty members, researchers, and mentors. Visit http://www.apsanet.org/dfp to learn more about the APSA DFP program and recent fellows.
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