Samuel C. Rhodes

Samuel C. Rhodes, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Political Science at Moravian University

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John Trumbull's painting General George Washington Resigning His Commission.
John Trumbull, General George Washington Resigning His Commission (1824).

About

I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Moravian University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I teach courses on American politics, government and quantitative political analysis.

My research examines how social and information environments shape public opinion and political behavior, with particular attention to political communication, misinformation, and elections.

Samuel C. Rhodes smiling in a university interior.
Photograph by Nick Chismar; © Moravian University 2024.

Background

I obtained my Ph.D. in political science from Washington State University in 2019 and my B.A. in political science from Shippensburg University in 2010. I am also a proud member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honors society, and currently serve as the faculty advisor for the Alpha Gamma Delta chapter.

Recognition

I received Moravian University’s Golden Apple Award for Professor of the Year for the 2023–24 school year and the 2024 Provost Teaching Innovation Award. The latter recognized my use of video games to teach collective-action theory in a special-topics course on political parties.

Research

My work examines how social and information environments shape public opinion and political behavior, with particular attention to political communication, misinformation, and elections.

Google Scholar

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

  1. Rhodes, Samuel C. 2024. “Narrow Margins and Misinformation: The Impact of Sharing Fake News in Close Contests.” Social Sciences 13(11): 571.

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  2. Rhodes, Samuel C. 2022. “Filter Bubbles, Echo Chambers and Fake News: How Social Media Conditions Individuals to be Less Critical of Political Misinformation.” Political Communication 39(1): 1–22.

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  3. Rhodes, Samuel C., Michael M. Franz, Erika Franklin Fowler and Travis N. Ridout. 2019. “The Role of Dark Money Disclosure on Candidate Evaluations and Viability.” Election Law Journal 18(2): 175–190.

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  4. Lorenzano, Kyle J., Miles J. P. Sari, Colin H. Storm, Samuel C. Rhodes and Porismita Borah. 2018. “Challenges for an SNS-based Public Sphere in 2016.” Online Information Review 42(7): 1106–1123.

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Teaching

Games are central to my teaching philosophy. I use them to help students see how the theoretical and quantitative worlds connect in the social sciences.

One of the reasons I use video games as teaching tools is that they also teach me how students operate and think beyond the scope of the assignment.

Read my Moravian University profile
President Ronald Reagan seated beside a student using a classroom computer.
President Ronald Reagan visiting a classroom computer station at Congress Heights Elementary School, Washington, D.C., March 12, 1984. AP Photo/Scott Applewhite; copyright may apply.

Classroom Experiment

Political parties through simulation

For more information on my semester-long experiment using computer simulations in the classroom, read the student account of Moravian’s hands-on political party learning experience in Minecraft.

Read the article

Open Teaching Resource

Blackjack Monte Carlo simulation

Below is a link to a Blackjack Monte Carlo Simulation I wrote in R. It is freely available under the very permissive MIT license, and you are welcome to download, adapt, and use it in your own teaching or research.

View the R script

A brief history: Conceived in 1946 by Stanislaw Ulam at Los Alamos, the Monte Carlo method was first used to calculate neutron diffusion paths in the development of the hydrogen bomb. Since then, its use has expanded into numerous applications in science and technology, including political science.