Ryan is a political scientist who has has dedicated himself to understanding and remedying the causes of social inequality through social scientific methods. His research and teaching interests include survey research and measurement, politics, and terrorism/international conflict. Ryan teaches in the Department of Political Science at the University of Georgia, is Director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues, and is contributing his expertise to the development of our Civil and Political Rights metrics. He received his PhD in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007.