2020 Election Experts

American politics expert

Professor of political science and African American studies
Director, Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy

• (847) 467-4697
• alvin.tillery@northwestern.edu

• American politics
• Racial and ethnic politics/ Black Lives Matter
• Media and politics
• Public opinion
• Political communication and political participation

Political expert, focusing on minority populations

Associate Professor of Instruction, Political Science

• (847) 467-0706
• j-dominguez@northwestern.edu

• American politics
• Urban politics
• Latino politics
• Chicago politics
• Immigration
• Race and ethnicity

Expert on the Latino vote

Associate professor of history

• g-cadava@northwestern.edu

• The Latino vote
• Latinos and the Republican party
• Immigration
• U.S.-Mexico borderlands
• Watergate
• The 2016 presidential election

Expert on partisan conflict in American politics

Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Political Science
Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research

• (847) 467-1147
• l-harbridge@northwestern.edu

• American politics
• U.S. Congress and Congressional elections
• Political parties and partisan conflict
• Public opinion
• Political communication

Presidential politics expert

Adjunct lecturer in journalism

• michael.conway@northwestern.edu

• Presidential politics
• Ethics and law

Campaign finance and election law expert

Class of 1940 Research Professor of Law

• (312) 503-7344
• mkang@northwestern.edu

• Election law
• Voting rights and redistricting
• Campaign finance
• Judicial elections

*Only available for interviews with print/online outlets

Election forecasting expert

Faculty director of the master's in data science program

• 847-491-5001
• thomas-miller-0@northwestern.edu

• Election forecasting

Miller runs The Virtual Tout, a novel forecasting platform that updates the odds of a win by President Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden each hour. With this level of precision, he can see, in real time, how single events might affect the potential outcome of the election.

Expert in polling data visualization

Associate Professor of Computer Science
Breed Junior Professor of Design

• (847) 491-5001
• jhullman@northwestern.edu

• Representations of data
• Data uncertainty in statistics and polling

Expert on corruption and obstruction

Clinical Professor of Law

• (312) 503-1482
• j-sorensen@law.northwestern.edu

• Public corruption
• Obstruction of justice
• Criminal law
• Health and human rights

Constitutional law scholar

Louis and Harriet Ancel Professor of Law and Public Policy at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

• (312) 503-8545
• m-redish@law.northwestern.edu

• Federal jurisdiction
• Civil procedure
• Freedom of expression
• Constitutional law

Expert in political and campaign ads

Clinical Professor of Marketing

• (847) 467-3209
• t-calkins@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Presidential advertisements
• Digital campaigns
• Celebrity endorsements

Expert in political and campaign ads

Clinical professor of marketing; associate chair of the marketing department at Kellogg

• (847) 467-6202
• j-hennessy@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Presidential campaign advertisements

Expert in political and campaign ads

Sandy & Morton Goldman Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies in Marketing

• (847) 491-2714
• d-rucker@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Presidential campaign advertisements
• Persuasion and consumer behavior

Expert in digital campaigns

McCormick Foundation Chair of Technology; associate dean of digital innovation; clinical professor of marketing; director of the Center for Research in Technology & Innovation

• (847) 491-2713
• mohans@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Digital campaigns and marketing

Expert in how candidates can build trust with voters

Bernice and Leonard Lavin Professor of Marketing

• (847) 491-7099
• k-grayson@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Studies how to build trust, including how candidates can build trust with voters
• Explores the role of fabrication and fact in trust development

Voting rights and redistricting expert

Class of 1940 Research Professor of Law

• (312) 503-7344
• mkang@northwestern.edu

• Election law
• Voting rights and redistricting
• Campaign finance
• Judicial elections

Vote-by-mail expert

Professor of law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

• joshua.kleinfeld@northwestern.edu

• Threats to democracy
• Election security
• Vote-by-mail processes and security
• Partisanship and party politics

Vote-by-mail expert

Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science; associate director of Northwestern's Institute for Policy Research

• druckman@northwestern.edu

• Vote-by-mail data
• American attitudes toward COVID-19
• American opinion about institutions' ability to handle the COVID-19 pandemic
• Public opinion on political communications

Elections procedures expert

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Professor of Journalism

• (847) 491-3955
• j-doppelt@northwestern.edu

• Member of the ad hoc Committee for 2020 Election Fairness and Legitimacy out of UCI Laws, which provides recommendations to advance the legitimacy of and the public's confidence in the November elections
• Media law and ethics
• Emerging tenets of social justice journalism
• Reporting of legal and immigrant affairs

Expert in Russian-American relations

Associate Professor of Instruction, School of Communication

• (847) 467-1569
• olga.kamenchuk@northwestern.edu

• Expert in Russian-American relations, opinion polling, public diplomacy and national security
• Former director of international research and communications for the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), the largest research and polling organization in the former Soviet Union
• Former co-director of the Eurasian Security and Governance Program at the Ohio State University Mershon Center for International Security Studies
• Co-principal investigator on the Comparative National Elections Project for Russian, Ukrainian and Serbian electoral studies

Health misinformation expert

Assistant professor of communication studies; faculty member in Northwestern's Center for Communication and Health

• nathan.walter@northwestern.edu

• Correction of misinformation, particularly health-related
• How to change health behavior through health campaigns
• Media psychology
• Communication ecologies

Expert in online information bias

Owen L. Coon Endowed Professor of Policy Analysis & Communication; director of Northwestern's Center for Communication and Public Policy

• eric.nisbet@northwestern.edu

• How strongly held partisan, national, religious or ethnic identities bias the processing of information and messaging, and the consequences for policy attitudes and behavior
• Causes and consequences of online information-seeking and expression in authoritarian or non-democratic contexts
• How macro contextual factors interact with individual differences or behaviors to explain heterogeneity in communication processes and outcomes
• Governance and elections
• International security
• Public policy in the areas of science, technology and environmental policy
• Communication strategies
• Public opinion

Expert in "fake news" and social media

Professor, journalism and integrated marketing communications
Faculty associate at Institute for Policy Research

• (847) 467-2528
• stephanie.edgerly@northwestern.edu

• "Fake news" and social media
• Political and civic participation
• How new media alter the way audiences consume news and engage in politics
• How individuals and groups create and share news over social networking websites
• How audiences selectively consume news

Expert in information algorithms

Assistant professor of communications

• nad@northwestern.edu

• Algorithms and accountability as it relates to social computing in the news
• Computational journalism

Expert on political journalism

• Teaches class on politics, presidential elections and the journalism industry
• Worked as a political reporter for New Jersey Public Television and WNET, New York covering New Jersey politics and their congressional delegation from 1980 to1995
• Won an EMMY for his political interview program, ON the Record

Elections procedures expert

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Professor of Journalism

• (847) 491-3955
• j-doppelt@northwestern.edu

• Member of the ad hoc Committee for 2020 Election Fairness and Legitimacy out of UCI Laws, which provides recommendations to advance the legitimacy of and the public's confidence in the November elections
• Media law and ethics
• Emerging tenets of social justice journalism
• Reporting of legal and immigrant affairs

Psychology expert

Interim Dean, School of Education and Social Policy
The Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Psychology, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
Professor of Human Development and Social Policy

• (847) 491-4174
• dmca@northwestern.edu

• Author, “The Strange Case of Donald J. Trump: A Psychological Reckoning” (Oxford University Press, March 2020)
• Adult personality
• Life stories and culture

Expert in the politics of Joe Biden

Associate professor of history

• (847) 467-0872
• brett.gadsden@northwestern.edu

• American history
• Black political and social history
• Segregation, inequality and racial discrimination
• Politics of Joe Biden

Expert on relationships between presidents and journalists

Clinical Associate Professor

• (847) 467-2450
• j-marshall@northwestern.edu

• Relationship between presidents and journalists, especially in times of crisis
• Author of "Watergate's Legacy and the Press: The investigative Impulse" (Northwestern University Press, 2011)
• Media history

Studies the role of media in the Trump White House

Professor of Journalism

• slevin@northwestern.edu

• Politics and political messaging
• "Post-Truth Politics"
• The role of media in Donald Trump's presidency
• The Obamas, especially Michelle Obama

Expert in political leadership

Wendell Hobbs Professor of Managerial Politics; professor of managerial economics and decision sciences at Kellogg

• (847) 491-5172
• t-feddersen@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Political leadership
• Crisis management, particularly in the COVID-19 pandemic
• How elections aggregate dispersed information
• The link between information and election participation
• Legislative bargaining
• The informal role of activists in the economy

Leadership expert

Clinical Professor of Strategy

• h-kraemer@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Values-based leadership
• Leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic

Leadership expert

Clinical Professor of Management and Organizations

• (847)-467-3468
• n-pearce@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Leadership in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Civil rights

Leadership expert

John L. and Hellen Kellogg Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences
Director, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management

• (847) 461-6600
• n-persico@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Political economy and design

Census and voting trend expert

Associate professor of sociology

• (847) 491-2697
• c-percheski@northwestern.edu

• Census methods and impact
• Demographic voting trends
• Demographic trends in social inequality, health, employment and family dynamics

Public opinion researcher

Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science; associate director of Northwestern's Institute for Policy Research

• druckman@northwestern.edu

• Vote-by-mail data
• American attitudes toward COVID-19
• American opinion about institutions' ability to handle the COVID-19 pandemic
• Public opinion on political communications

Expert on public opinion of COVID-19 impact and response

Assistant Professor of Sociology

• (847) 467-3985
• redbird@northwestern.edu

• American attitudes toward COVID-19 response and impact
• Principal investigator, "The COVID-19 Social Change Survey" (coronadata.us)
• Studies questions such as how isolated respondents feel, how they are preparing, whether they think it is a hoax, and whether they think the crisis is fostering a sense of solidarity or community

Studies polarization and public opinion formation

Associate professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics

• dmabrams@northwestern.edu

• Worked on the first quantitative model that captures how politicized environments affect U.S. political opinion formation and evolution.
• Framework breaks opinion change into perceptions and reactions, investigating biases such as tribalism and 'media bubbles'
• Model could simulate interventions to explore how to impact polarization and foster unity

Constitutional law scholar

Louis and Harriet Ancel Professor of Law and Public Policy at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

• (312) 503-8545
• m-redish@law.northwestern.edu

• Federal jurisdiction
• Civil procedure
• Freedom of expression
• Constitutional law

Constitutional law scholar

Harold Washington Professor of Law

• (312) 503-1468
• daniel.rodriguez@law.northwestern.edu

• Administrative law
• Local government law
• Statutory interpretation
• Federal and state constitutional law
• Law-business-technology interface

Judicial elections expert

Class of 1940 Research Professor of Law

• (312) 503-7344
• mkang@northwestern.edu

• Election law
• Voting rights and redistricting
• Campaign finance
• Judicial elections

Expert on economics of immigration

Associate professor of accounting information and management at Kellogg

• (847) 467-4508
• d-aobdia@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Role of high-skilled immigration, culture and tools in organizations
• Economic impact of government regulation

Expert on the Latino vote

Associate professor of history

• g-cadava@northwestern.edu

• The Latino vote
• Latinos and the Republican party
• Immigration
• U.S.-Mexico borderlands
• Watergate
• The 2016 presidential election

Political expert, focusing on minority populations

Associate Professor of Instruction, Political Science

• (847) 467-0706
• j-dominguez@northwestern.edu

• American politics
• Urban politics
• Latino politics
• Chicago politics
• Immigration
• Race and ethnicity

Immigration policy expert

Associate professor of managerial economics and decision sciences at Kellogg

• (847) 467-0921
• j-spenkuch@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Immigration policy

Expert in infectious disease modeling

Assistant professor of epidemiology at Feinberg

• (312) 503-1895
• jgerardin@northwestern.edu

• Infectious disease modeling
• Currently working with the Illinois Department of Public Health to predict the magnitude and distribution of the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois and inform an effective response
• Previously served as malaria lead at the Institute for Disease Modeling, working to treat, prevent and eliminate malaria

Healthcare economist

Professor of Strategy

• (847) 491-2509
• c-garthwaite@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Healthcare policy, including the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid
• Public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Ethical drug and vaccine pricing

Healthcare economist

Associate Professor of Strategy

• (847) 467-7511
• amanda.starc@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Medicare
• Consumer behavior in health insurance exchanges

Expert in social access to healthcare

Daniel H. Renberg Chair of Social Justice Reporting; assistant professor of journalism; core faculty member of the Institute of Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing

• steven.thrasher@northwestern.edu

• Impact of HIV/AIDS, infectious disease, COVID-19 and the opioids crisis
• Drug policy, access to medicine, and social access to healthcare
• Civil rights relating to race, LGBTQ, disability, gender and economic classes
• Civil rights and activist history, specifically Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street
• Representations of police in fiction

Medicaid expansion expert

Professor of Finance

• (847) 491-8337
• dmatsa@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Published study on lessons learned from Main's 2017 Medicaid expansion referendum

Social welfare policy expert

Margaret Walker Alexander Professor of Human Development and Social Policy
Director, Institute for Policy Research

• (847) 491-3884
• dws@northwestern.edu

• Food insecurity and rising inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Importance of the social safety net in times of crisis

Studies pandemic stimulus impact on individuals

Associate Professor of Finance

• (847) 467-5249
• s-baker@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Published study on how individuals spent first COVID-19 stimulus checks
• Studies economic bailouts and Wall Street accountability
• Researches the effects of policy uncertainty on financial markets and growth

Expert on pandemic economic response strategies

Clinical professor of finance at Kellogg

• (847) 467-4563
• phillip-braun@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Economic bailouts and stimulus plans
• Loan forgiveness
• Wall Street accountability
• Foreign trade policy and pandemic impact on global markets

Expert on the recession's impact on young workers

Assistant professor of human development and social policy in the School of Education and Social Policy; fellow at the Institute for Policy Research

• schwandt@northwestern.edu

• Impact of the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on young workers
• Labor market entry
• Recessions
• Health inequality and life expectancy

Economic policy expert

James R. and Helen D. Russell Professor of Finance; faculty director of the Kellogg Public-Private Initiative

• (847) 467-1840
• eberly@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Former Chief Economist at the U.S. Treasury, leading analysis of U.S. and global economies and financial markets and developing policy recommendations on micro and macroeconomic issues
• Studies household consumption and portfolio choices, and their impact on the macroeconomy

Fiscal policy expert

Executive director of the Kellogg Public-Private Initiative; visiting associate professor at Kellogg

• benjamin.harris@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Fiscal policy
• Bailouts and Wall Street accountability
• Tax, budget and retirement security
• Former chief economist and economic adviser to the Vice President of the United States

Expert in economic impact of government regulations

IBM Professor of Regulation and Competitive Practices

• (847) 467-6505
• d-besanko@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Economics of regulation
• Intersection of competitive strategy and public policy
• Theory of the firm

Income inequality expert

Elinor and H. Wendell Hobbs Professor of Management; professor of strategy at Kellogg

• (847) 467-6598
• t-hubbard@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Income inequality

International relations expert

Professor of Political Science

• (847) 491-4847
• ianhurd@northwestern.edu

• How nations' pandemic response impacts their standing on the world stage

Expert on game theory in international relations

John L. and Hellen Kellogg Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences at Kellogg

• (847) 467-4613
• baliga@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Uses game theory and study of incentives to understand key issues in economics and political science
• Explores how the strategic nature of conflict changes with the technology of war 
• Studies how the logic of deterrence changes when their is an attribution problem, as with cyberattacks

Global supply chain expert

IBM Distinguished Professor of Operations Management at Kellogg

• (847) 491-8169
• s-chopra@kellogg.northwestern.edu

• Global supply chains and distribution networks

Expert on polar climate and ice melt

Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences

• (847) 467-2268
• axford@northwestern.edu

• Greenland's glaciers and ice sheet
• Rising global sea levels

Expert on the carbon cycle

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
McCormick School of Engineering
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences

• (847) 491-8790
• n-blair@northwestern.edu

• Human impact on the carbon cycle
• Agriculture and deforestation
• Natural methane production

Expert on environmental impacts of emerging technologies

Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering
Director of Research and Senior Fellow, Northwestern Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering (NAISE)

• (847) 467-6285
• jennifer.dunn1@northwestern.edu

• Biofuels, bioproducts and batteries
• Fuels and chemicals made from waste
• Plastic pollution

Expert on human impact on climate

Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Principal Investigator, Climate Change Research Group

• (847) 467-6185
• daniel.horton@northwestern.edu

• Link between climate change and extreme weather
• Electric vehicles
• Human adaptation to climate change

Expert on water pollution, scarcity and drought

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Director of Northwestern Center for Water Research

• (847) 491-9902
• a-packman@northwestern.edu

• COVID-19 in wastewater
• Urban water management and flooding
• Waterborne disease transmission

Policy impact on marginalized communities

Professor of political science and African American studies
Director, Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy

• (847) 467-4697
• alvin.tillery@northwestern.edu

• American politics
• Racial and ethnic politics/ Black Lives Matter
• Media and politics
• Public opinion
• Political communication and political participation

Health disparities researcher

Vice Dean for Diversity and Inclusion
Chief of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine
Magerstadt Professor of Medical Social Sciences
Associate Director, Northwestern Medicine’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute

• (312) 695-0829
• cyancy@nm.org

• History and impact of health disparities, particularly on the African American community
• COVID-19's impact on minority populations

Expert in civil rights history and activism

Daniel H. Renberg Chair of Social Justice Reporting; assistant professor of journalism; core faculty member of the Institute of Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing

• steven.thrasher@northwestern.edu

• Civil rights relating to race, LGBTQ, disability, gender and economic classes
• Civil rights and activist history, specifically Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street
• Representations of police in fiction
• Impact of HIV/AIDS, infectious disease, COVID-19 and the opioids crisis
• Drug policy, access to medicine, and social access to healthcare

Expert in African American history

Professor of history

• (847) 491-3153
• leslie.harris@northwestern.edu

• American history
• African American history
• Southern history and confederate statues
• Urban history

Expert in monuments and cultural history

Associate professor of history

• (847) 491-2849
• kmasur@northwestern.edu

• American history
• African American history
• Gender and sexuality history
• Slavery and confederate statues
• Race, politics and the state

Expert in social justice journalism

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Professor of Journalism

• (847) 491-3955
• j-doppelt@northwestern.edu

• Member of the ad hoc Committee for 2020 Election Fairness and Legitimacy out of UCI Laws, which provides recommendations to advance the legitimacy of and the public's confidence in the November elections
• Media law and ethics
• Emerging tenets of social justice journalism
• Reporting of legal and immigrant affairs