Christian Pereira ’27 has learned how to cut through partisan language in order to reveal the fundamental issues at hand — but there’s always more to uncover, he notes.
“In today's world, communication is vastly different from what it was 10 or even 20 years ago and studying how those in power, especially the executive, can influence Congress today through their communication style has changed as well,” says Pereira, a Politics and Law major. “The language and rhetoric that's used is all very different.”
Funded by a Bryant University Undergraduate Research Grant, Pereira — advised by Assistant Professor of Political Science Tristan Hightower, Ph.D. — examined the dynamics of legislative-executive relations and how elite political communication through social media shapes institutional behavior. But while he analyzed 54,000 social media posts for the project during the summer of 2025 and later presented his findings in April at the New England Political Science Association’s annual meeting, his efforts didn’t end there.
This past summer, Pereira interned at Thorn Run Partners, a bipartisan lobbying firm based in Washington, D.C., that serves clients in healthcare, energy, artificial intelligence, and more. His responsibilities included regularly attending congressional hearings on issues pertaining to the firm’s clients, monitoring developments on major topics, and summarizing bills for both clients and the company’s weekly newsletter.
“It was awesome to get to peek behind the curtain,” says Pereira, who had previously received his first real-world look at the inner workings of a government office when he interned for Rhode Island Congressman Gabe Amo. “The whole experience reinforced the concepts that I've learned in the classroom and helped me build on them by seeing how things work in person.”
RELATED ARTICLE: Explore D.C. 2026 champions behind-the-scenes access and insight
When he wasn’t in the Thorn Run Partners office or exploring D.C.’s Smithsonian museums and parks, Pereira was finalizing research in preparation for the 2026 American Political Science Association conference, held in September. During the conference’s Emerging Scholars Symposium event, he discussed his work connecting political interest group theory to the National Collegiate Athletic Association with regard to resource bias and unequal representation.
The project, he says, reflects his broader interest in uncovering how influence and representation shape public institutions.
“This is a very novel idea, so it's cool to get to work on something that not many folks have had the chance to consider or analyze,” says Pereira, one of eight undergrads selected from hundreds of applicants to present at the annual conference.
This profile was updated from a previous piece published on Aug. 8, 2025.