I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Boston University, a Civic Tech Fellow in the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, and a Faculty Fellow at the Initiative on Cities

I study American political institutions, including Congress, electoral institutions, and local political institutions. I am particularly interested in how institutional arrangements and rules impact representation and policy outcomes. I also work as a consultant and expert witness on questions about voting rights, redistricting, and representation.

I received my Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University in 2014. I graduated from Bowdoin College in 2008 with an A.B. in Government and Mathematics.

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Recent Publications

— Urban Affairs Review
How does access to a car affect the voter participation? We use administrative data from Michigan to estimate the effect of car ownership on voter turnout. Voters without car access are significantly less likely to vote in person, but …

— Political Science Research and Methods
How does access to a car affect the voter participation? We use administrative data from Michigan to estimate the effect of car ownership on voter turnout. Voters without car access are significantly less likely to vote in person, but …

— Journal of Historical Political Economy
Combining a novel analysis of state constitutions and constitutional conventions with data on state statutes, this article explores the emergence of property qualifications for voting, with a particular emphasis on their role in local …

Current Projects

In this paper we propose a new method for drawing districting maps, the Define-Combine procedure, that substantially reduces partisan gerrymandering without requiring a neutral third party or bipartisan agreement. We use simulations and map-drawing algorithms to show …

How does recent immigrant lineage influence the legislative behavior of members of Congress on immigration policy? Legislators more proximate to the immigrant experience tend to support more permissive immigration …