Matthew Parent

Dr. Matthew J. Parent is the Impact and Outreach Coordinator for the Project on Managing the Atom. He also serves as Faculty Assistant for Prof. Matthew Bunn and coordinates the fellowship programs at Managing the Atom. His research focuses both on the material capabilities of military technologies as well as their representation in media (in news media as well as popular fiction). Depictions of nuclear weapons, robots/AI, and directed energy weapons are of particular interest to him.

Before coming to the Kennedy School, Matthew was an adjunct professor of political science at Clark University and the University of Connecticut, teaching courses related to international relations and security studies. Concurrently, Matthew also served as a graduate assistant and researcher at the Center for Judaic Studies at UConn.

He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts, an MA in World Politics from the Catholic University of America, an MA in Political Science from UConn, a graduate certificate in Human Rights from UConn's Human Rights Institute, and a PhD in Political Science from UConn. His dissertation analyzes public perceptions of military technology, reviewing both material capabilities and popular culture. It is titled: "Shaping the Battlefield: Assessing the Symbolic Role of Military Technologies."