Jason Byer’s teaching and research examines American Political Institutions, Congressional Elections, Representation, Data Science, and Quantitative Methods. More specifically, his research is focused on better understanding how institutional factors impact the relationship between the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government, as well as how both institutional and electoral factors influence congressional elections from the perspective of both the candidates and voters. Broadly, his research leverages new data and quantitative methods to better understand American political phenomenon.
Dr. Hayes specializes in the fields of American politics and political behavior, with an emphasis on economic inequality. In 2019, Dr. Hayes served as U.S. Studies Chair as part of the Fulbright program in Xalapa, Mexico. Dr. Hayes teaches courses on Congress, American Politics, Congress and the Presidency, and the Politics of Inequality.
Meina Cai (Affiliated Faculty)
Meina Cai is an associate professor of political science and Asian/American Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut. Her research interest lie in the political economy of development in transition economies. Her current research focuses on land property rights, public finance, rural governance and development in China.
Jeffrey Ladewig (Affiliated Faculty)
Jeffrey Ladewig teaches courses on the U.S. Congress, the U.S. President, American political economy, and American political parties. His primary areas of current research include developing political economy models of party and ideological polarization in the U.S. Congress, the affects of income inequality in the U.S, and congressional apportionment. He has also published research on the organization of Congress, public opinion, and voting behavior, as well as international political economy.
Lyle Scruggs (Affiliated Professor)
Lyle Scruggs specialties are political economy, social welfare policy, environmental politics and quantitative research methods. Professor Scruggs is a co-Director of the Comparative Entitlements Dataset Project (CWEP), and the Energy and Elections Lab, an affiliate of the Center for Environmental Science and Engineering (CESE), a member of the Human Rights Institute’s Economic and Social Rights Group. Professor Scruggs has been a Visiting Scholar at the Quality of Government Institute in Gothenburg, Sweden (2017), the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City (2011-12), and the University of Edinburgh (2004).
Seth Warner (Affiliated Faculty)
Seth Warner studies state and local politics in the United States from a behavioral perspective. Much of his work focuses on how local contexts affect the way people feel, identify, and act in relation to politics. His current project studies differences in polarization across US cities and towns, and how highly polarized environments affect the people who live in them. Other work shows that polarized contexts lead to more adversarial rhetoric among elites, and higher rates of protest participation among the public
Laine Shay (Affiliated Faculty)
Laine Shay’s research focuses on American institutions and public policy. In particular, he focuses on the consequences of institutional design on policymaking.