Dan Feng ‘17

This profile is current as of 2022.

Dan (April) Feng graduated from Notre Dame this past May with double majors in Political Science and Economics. Currently, she is working as an innovation fellow at the City of South Bend, Department of Innovation & Technology. Dan leads the City's effort on tackling housing insecurity, improving the quality of early childhood care, and workforce development.

This bio was current as of 2017, when she was part of the on-campus Kellogg community.

In my senior thesis, I will explore the difference of media coverage of religious extremism and fundamentalism in different political regimes, especially representative democracy and competitive authoritarianism. In order to conduct a substantial research project, I have decided to focus on two specific countries, namely the United States and China, and use mainly the method of case studies to demonstrate the disparities. This semester, I will work on narrowing down my topic – deciding which form of media (television news, print journalism or social media) and which specific terrorist attack or ideology I will discuss in my thesis. I will also write out a detailed outline of my thesis. I will also continue to assist Professor McAdams on his research on my free time.

I was fortunate enough to receive several fellowships and grants for research. In my freshman year, I took advantage of the First Year Ignition Fellowship and conducted research in Beijing, China on the Communist Party’s propaganda slogan “Chinese Dream.” My research paper was published in the Huffington Post. During my sophomore year summer, I continued my independent research on the major Chinese political movements, including the May Fourth Movement and New Cultural Movement through the general funding from the Liu Institute of Asia and Asian Studies. I published another paper “Violence Generated by Fear” in the Huffington Post subsequently. Last semester, I interned with CBS News and China Central Television America in Washington, DC through the DC Program in the political science department. During the summer, I participated in the WorldTeach Program in Cape Town, South Africa, funded by the Kellogg Institute. I am also a Sorin Scholar and a tutor in the University Writing Center.