Bel Corder '25 

Political Science and Psychology 
Commonwealth Honors College

Carlsbad, New Mexico 

What drew you to this field of study? 

Growing up, I found the political attitudes of my small hometown in the deserts of New Mexico to be extremely fascinating. At the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, conversations in my community around race increased—but in harmful ways. I found myself asking, “What factors contribute to this type of worldview?” and “How can I properly combat this way of thinking?” Overall, my interest in political science was born from a desire to understand the people in my community and to learn how to bridge the divide between our beliefs. I sought to answer questions: How are our political systems structured? What are the issues? What informs one’s political beliefs? The addition of a psychology major allows me to delve further into the intricacies of human thought as shaped by society and self. My time at UMass has provided me with knowledge beyond my imagination on these subjects, and research has allowed me to make connections between concepts learned in class and real-world data that continues to grant new perspectives on these conversations back home.  

How do you conduct your research? 

I’ve developed great research skills in creating, editing, and analyzing survey data during my work as an undergraduate pollster for the UMass Amherst Poll, a group conducting national and statewide survey polling on racial and political issues. For this study, I analyze data from Professor Seth Goldman's American Multiracial Panel Survey (AMPS), a national three-wave panel survey on the racial attitudes of everyday Americans with large sample sizes of people of color. Using this amazing set of data, I’m studying what some scholars believe has become the most widely used ideology when discussing contemporary racial attitudes—racial color blindness—in which many insist that race and racial issues have become irrelevant factors in our daily lives. AMPS grants a unique opportunity to study the opinions of groups that are often overlooked in polling—namely Black, Latinx, Asian, and multiracial people—and my preliminary analysis reveals a more complex picture than found in previous studies that focus primarily on white respondents. In this study, I will first create a coding scheme to analyze over 4,000 open-ended responses to qualitatively decipher how racial color blindness is expressed in different racial groups. Then, I will run regressions on quantitative measures within the survey to understand which groups are most likely to employ this ideology. The combination of qualitative and quantitative data in my research will provide a much fuller picture of how and who expresses racial color blindness and the extent of its use in American society.  

What do you see as the impact—or potential impact—of your work? 

I believe it is imperative to study the beliefs and attitudes of the public to learn how these attitudes influence their political behavior, with the ultimate goal of working towards creating a more representative and equitable society for all. In my opinion, racial color blindness is a foundational ideology that has wide-reaching consequences for one’s understanding of all racial issues. Studying ideologies like racial color blindness, which underlie and inform one’s position on how our political system should work, grants us the ability to understand why we differ on political issues.  

How does your faculty mentor support your research? 

Taking Professor Tatishe Nteta’s riveting American Politics course during my freshman year truly inspired my interest in political science and cemented my decision to major in it. I’ve been a research assistant for Professor Nteta since my sophomore year, and throughout that time, he has provided me with great opportunities to hone my survey research skills, even recommending me for the SBS Center for Justice, Law, and Societies fellowship that led to the AMPS project. Professor Nteta is extremely well-versed in racial politics and has pointed me in the direction of many different sources to lay the groundwork for my research, as well as proposing additional considerations to make my project more well-developed. To conduct this research with a professor who has been such an inspiring and illuminating light in my academic journey feels like a full-circle moment, and I’m extremely grateful that he has taken the time to invest in me! 

What do you find most exciting about your research? 

My AMPS study provides me with a better way to understand the opinions of people who differ from me, like those in my community back in New Mexico. The underlying motive of all my research is to understand why someone holds their specific political beliefs, and while racial color blindness is just one component of a larger story, it’s a great indicator and explainer of political attitudes. To crack the code of what creates our political beliefs is a question I hope to aid in answering through this research! 

What are you most proud of? 

I’m proud of the person I have become at UMass. I took a dive off the deep end by going to school in a place that I had never been before, but only in this environment could I have grown into a better version of myself. I’m constantly pushing myself out of my comfort zone, whether in social or educational settings, and it’s making me a more well-rounded person. Only by working hard in practice could I have traveled across the country to compete in the College Club Swimming Nationals! Only by being a self-starter and asking about research could I have presented two papers at the American Political Science Association!  

How has your research enhanced your overall educational experience at UMass? 

Research has become the center of my academic life on campus. While classes have provided me with many answers to my big questions, they’ve also created new ones! The application of material from classes through research with faculty has built upon this core knowledge and provided me with great skills for future careers. I find it exhilarating to be on the cutting edge of research in the field—to see the results from our polling before they are released, to write research papers on our new findings before we present them at the conference. Most importantly, I feel so lucky to have a tight-knit intellectual community on campus of fellow undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and professors from the UMass Amherst Poll group, who are always pushing me to ask new questions and learn new skills. 

What are your plans for the future? 

After graduating, I hope to use my strong background in survey research methods to work in polling. I believe that we must be able to learn how people feel about issues to create institutions that properly serve the needs of our society. Eventually, I hope to return to school for a PhD in political science! Our political environment is ever-changing and always requires a critical lens. Conducting the research to understand it would be an amazing endeavor.  

Why would you recommend UMass to a friend? 

Being at a large school like UMass means that you can find your people and create your own sense of community. I’ve found my social niche in settings like UMass Club Swimming and UMass Club Water Polo while continuing to compete in the sports I love. My academic life is very fulfilling, whether in classes in my major or through my research pursuits. And, not to mention, western Massachusetts is beautiful!

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