I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at the University of Chicago, specializing in comparative politics and quantitative methods. I study comparative political behavior, democratic backsliding, and minority representation, with a regional focus on Latin America.
My dissertation examines anti-establishment and anti-democratic politics in Argentina and Chile. I explore how citizens protest the political establishment, how anti-establishment appeals mobilize the electorate, and how voters respond to denialist rhetoric that minimizes past human rights violations. In other projects, I study democratic erosion, voter attitudes toward LGBT candidates, and Indigenous political representation. My research employs survey experiments, causal inference, computational analysis of text and geospatial data, focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and case studies.
My research has received support from the Center for International Social Science Research, the Center for Latin American Studies, the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, and the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts.
From 2025 to 2026, I will be a Doctoral Fellow at the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights and a Graduate Fellow at the Social Sciences Research Center.
From 2025 to 2026, I will be a Doctoral Fellow at the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights and a Graduate Fellow at the Social Sciences Research Center.
I hold a B.A. in Political Science from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (UTDT), Argentina.
My CV is available here. You can contact me by e-mail at lcella@uchicago.edu.
My CV is available here. You can contact me by e-mail at lcella@uchicago.edu.