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Computer Science Department PhD, Computer Science, New York University, 1991 Office Hours:
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Research deals with computational problems in political informatics, specifically systems for the analysis of issues related to congressional redistricting. The work is multidisciplinary, involving topics in computer science, applied mathematics, and political science. Student involvement in the research is through the Stony Brook University VIP initiative (PoliTech program) as well as graduate and undergraduate research in Computer Science. At the center of the research work is the Automated Redistricting System (ARS), a system for the rapid generation of statewide congressional districts in accordance with constitutional and court-ordered guidelines, as well as user-defined preferences. ARS incorporates measures of the quality of a districting plan into a mathematical function, and then attempts to optimize it. Once the user selects a state, she can specify the importance of various measures such as compactness, equal population, and political fairness, along with other parameters such as the desired number of congressional districts. The system includes a database containing election district geographic data, election result data, and statewide demographic data for many of the states subject to redistricting following the 2020 Census. Individual research topics include: