Projects
Projects in Development
Staff
Leadership
Christopher Faricy
Title: DirectorInstitution(s): Syracuse University
Christopher Faricy is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is author of Welfare for the Wealthy: Parties, Social Spending, and Inequality in the United States (Cambridge University Press).
Sean Theriault
Title: DirectorInstitution(s): University of Texas at Austin
Professor Sean Theriault is a Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to being an award-winning teacher, he is the author or co-author of 5 books on Congress, none more relevant to the Comparative Agendas Project than The Great Broadening (co-authored by Bryan Jones and Michelle Whyman).
Derek Epp
Title: Co-DirectorInstitution(s): University of Texas at Austin
Derek Epp is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. His research centers on policy processes, a topic on which he has published The Structure of Policy Change (Chicago, 2018) and various articles. He also studies race and policing. (https://derek-epp.com/)
Christine Bird
Title: Associate DirectorInstitution(s): Oklahoma State University
Christine C. Bird is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Oklahoma State University. She is also the Director of the Law and Public Policy (LAPP) research lab. Christine studies agenda setting, elite political behavior, and courts. Her work has been published in Political Research Quarterly, the Journal of Law and Courts, American Politics Research, Interest Groups & Advocacy and in other outlets. Christine received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2022 and also holds a JD. She is licensed to practice law in her home state of Oklahoma.
Rebecca Eissler
Title: Associate DirectorInstitution(s): San Francisco State University
Rebecca Eissler is an Associate Professor in the Political Science Department at San Francisco State University. Her research focuses on agenda setting and information processing dynamics in the presidency. More information can be found at www.rebeccaeissler.com.
E.J. Fagan
Title: Associate DirectorInstitution(s): University of Illinois at Chicago
E.J. Fagan is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research focuses on the policy agenda of think tanks, scientists, and American political institutions.
Alison Craig
Title: Associate DirectorInstitution(s): University of Texas at Austin
Alison Craig is an Associate Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on policymaking in the United States Congress with an emphasis on interactions between members and navigating the legislative process. She is currently writing a book on collaboration in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Bryan Jones
Title: Founding DirectorInstitution(s): University of Texas at Austin
Bryan D. Jones is J.J. “Jake” Pickle Regent’s Chair in Congressional Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and Director of the US Policy Agendas Project. His research centers on American public policy processes, including agenda-setting and decision-making. He is author or co-author of twelve books.
Frank R Baumgartner
Title: Founding Co-DirectorInstitution(s): University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Frank R Baumgartner is the Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and, with Bryan Jones, started work on the Policy Agendas Project in 1994. They have been busy ever since. www.unc.edu/~fbaum.
Community
John Wilkerson
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): University of Washington
John Wilkerson is a professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Washington. His research centers on legislative organization and decision-making. He is particularly interested how information technologies can advance political science research and teaching.
Christopher Wlezien
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): University of Texas at Austin
Christopher Wlezien is Hogg Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. His primary policy-related research develops and tests a “thermostatic” model of public opinion and policy, on which he has published a book titled Degrees of Democracy and a more recent one incorporating media coverage titled Information and Democracy. For more information, see his website.
Chris Koski
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): Reed College
Chris Koski is the Daniel B. Greenberg Professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Chris is co-author (with Christian Breunig from the University of Konstanz) Means, Motives, and Opportunities: How Executives and Interest Groups Set Public Policy. Chris also works with co-authors on projects related to subnational climate change policy, attitudes toward climate change policy design, the structure and implementation of collaborative governance, and the politics of geoengineering.
Samuel Workman
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): West Virginia University
Samuel Workman is an Professor in the Department of Political Science at the West Virginia University. He is the author of The Dynamics of Bureaucracy in the U.S. Government (Cambridge, 2015). His research addresses bureaucracy, public policy, and regulatory politics.
JoBeth Shafran
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): Western Carolina University
JoBeth Shafran is an Associate Professor in the Political Science and Public Affairs Department at Western Carolina University. Her research focuses on information processing in subsystems and the effects of information on problem definitions and the policy process.
Jonathan Lewallen
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): University of Tampa
Jonathan Lewallen is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Tampa. His research focuses on the policy consequences of institutional authority in U.S. politics: how rules, roles, and routines influence attention, strategy, activity, and participation. In addition to studying institutional processes, Dr. Lewallen's research includes cybersecurity and technology policy, and coastal politics and policy issues.
Herschel Thomas
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): University of Texas at Austin
Herschel received his Ph.D. at UT-Austin, and is now teaching at the LBJ School Of Public Affairs. His research focuses on the policy process, agenda-setting, organized interests, and lobbying. He previously managed the US Project from 2011-2014.
Annelise Russell
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): University of Kentucky
Annelise Russell is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of Kentucky.
Amber Boydstun
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): University of California, Davis
Amber E. Boydstun is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on media coverage and issue framing. She is co-author of Catching Fire in the News: The Necessary Conditions for Media storms (Cambridge University Press), author of Making the News: Politics, the Media, and Agenda Setting (University of Chicago Press) and co-author of The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence (Cambridge University Press).
Michelle Whyman
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): Duke University
Michelle is a Postdoctoral Associate and Visiting Assistant Professor with the Political Institutions and Public Choice Program at Duke University. Her research focuses on United States lawmaking, with an emphasis on the durability of legislative enactments.
Brooke Shannon
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): University of Memphis
Brooke Shannon is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Memphis in Memphis, TN. Her research focuses on urban and local politics, public policy, institutional reform, and agenda setting.
Connor Dye
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): University of Texas at San Antonio
Connor is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He uses natural language processing methods to study regulatory policymaking, agenda setting, information processing, and bureaucratic politics.
Ross Buchanan
Title: Research AssociateInstitution(s): University of Texas at Austin
My research focuses on environmental policy and government responsiveness to public participation. I am interested in differences in responsiveness between democratic and authoritarian regimes.
Guy Freedman
Title: Research AssociateInstitution(s): University of Texas at Austin
Guy Freedman is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include public opinion, the public agenda and policy responsiveness. He received his B.A. and M.A. in Political Science from the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya. His M.A. thesis examines the American public mood toward Israel, and he previously worked as a statistical consultant at the IDC.
Katie Madel
Title: Research AssociateInstitution(s): University of Texas at Austin
Katie Madel is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include education policy, gender policy, and political rhetoric. She received her B.A. in Political Science and English from North Central College.
Zachary McGee
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): Kenyon College
Zachary McGee's research and teaching interests center on American political institutions, especially the U.S. Congress and political parties, as well as on the decision-making processes of elites within the policy process. My research thus far has traced the influence of intraparty factions in the polarized United States Congress, explored the influence political parties have on interest groups’ policy agendas, probed the travel behavior of members of Congress, and identified the creeping and systematic influence of the conservative judicial movement on both Congress and the federal courts.
Laura Quaglia
Title: Research AssociateInstitution(s): University of Texas at Austin
Laura Quaglia is a PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include national security policymaking and agenda-setting from a comparative perspective. Laura received her B.A. in International Relations and her M.A in International Strategic Studies from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Brazil.
Kendall Curtis
Title: Research AssociateInstitution(s): The University of Texas at Austin
Kendall Curtis is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include European politics, populism, and political parties. She received her B.A. in Political Science, Economics, and Philosophy from Baylor University. At CAP 2024, she received the Bryan Jones Award for Best Graduate Student Paper.
Daniel Little
Title: Director of Undergraduate EducationInstitution(s): The University of Texas at Austin
Daniel Little is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include politics of labor, politics of climate change, and urban politics. He received his B.A. in Political Science and Planning from the University of Oregon.
Eric Kim
Title: Research AssociateInstitution(s): The University of Texas at Austin
Eric Kim is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include American politics and public policy. He received his B.A. and Masters at Yonsei University.
Christine Guo
Title: Research AssociateInstitution(s): The University of Texas at Austin
Christine Guo is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include voter behaviors, corruption, and scandals. She received her bachelor's in political science at National Taiwan University and her M.P.P. in Public Policy at the University of Maryland.
Grace C. Hartzell
Title: Research AssociateInstitution(s): The University of Texas at Austin
My research interests include electoral behavior and immigration policy. Specifically, I study noncitizen resident voting rights in Europe and the United States.
Michael Auslen
Title: Faculty AssociateInstitution(s): The University of Texas at Austin
Michael Auslen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on representation, the media, and public opinion's role in policymaking, with an emphasis on state and local politics in the United States.
Gauthier Fally
Title: Research AssociateInstitution(s): The University of Texas at Austin
American Politics, Comparative Politics and Public Policy, Interest Group Politics, Electoral Systems, Machine Learning Methods, Time Series Methods.