Ayse Eldes is a PhD candidate in the Department of Politics specializing in American Politics, Political Economy, and Formal & Quantitative Methods. Her research interests are in bureaucracy and government-industry relationships. She is currently researching congressional oversight behavior, corporate political responses to economic decoupling, and presidential ambition.

She earned a BS in Economics at the University of Michigan, where her honors thesis analyzed product differentiation and market power as determinants of corporate political activity. Ayse has previously worked as a freelance journalist, translator for refugee services, and case manager for political asylum applicants.