kbheadshot TEDxDr. Kirk Bowman is full Professor, Associate Chair, and the Jon R. Wilcox Term Professor in Soccer and Global Politics in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. A specialist in Latin American politics and development, he is author of Militarization, Democracy, and Development: The Perils of Praetorianism in Latin America (Pennsylvania University Press, 2002), Peddling Paradise: The Politics of Tourism in Latin America (Lynne Rienner 2013), Lessons from Latin America: Innovations in Politics, Culture, and Development (with Felipe Arocena, University of Toronto 2014) and numerous journal articles, book chapters, and reference chapters. His next book uses soccer to explore the theories and concepts of comparative politics. He has received research support from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Ford Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, among others, and was a Fulbright Scholar. He was the University System of Georgia Excellence of Teaching 2007 recipient and the 2008 Carnegie-Case Professor of the Year for the State of Georgia. He founded and directed a non-profit in Fiji that combined drug discovery and sustainable development in coastal villages. Most recently, Dr. Bowman is the Co-founder and Director of the international NGO Rise Up & Care (www.riseup.care).