Günes Murat Tezcür is the Jalal Talabani chair of Kurdish political studies and an associate professor at the University of Central Florida. He also directs the Kurdish Political Studies Program, the only academic unit dedicated to the study of Kurdish issues in the U.S. He is a social scientist studying political violence and identity, and democratic struggles in the broader Middle East and beyond. His work has appeared in many journals such as the American Political Science Review, Comparative Politics, Journal of Peace Research, Law and Society Review, and Political Research Quarterly. He is also the author of Muslim Reformers in Iran and Turkey. Two of his current research projects examine the motives of ordinary men and women joining armed groups, focusing on the Kurdish insurgency, and the gendered dynamics of mass violence, focusing on the attacks against the Yazidis. Günes earned his B.A. in international relations and political science at Bogaziçi University, Turkey, and his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan.