Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
This live webcast from May 21, 2024, features Professor Charles Stewart III, one of our nation’s premier experts on elections, congressional politics, and American political development. He is the Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science at MIT, where he has taught since 1985. In 2017 he established the MIT Election Data + Science Lab (MEDSL), which applies scientific principles to how elections are studied and administered.
His research about Congress touches on the historical development of committees, origins of partisan polarization, and Senate elections. His books about congressional research include Budget Reform Politics, Electing the Senate (with Wendy J. Schiller), Fighting for the Speakership (with Jeffery A. Jenkins), and Analyzing Congress.
Professor Stewart is an established leader in the analysis of the performance of election systems and the quantitative assessment of election performance. In addition to leading MEDSL, in 2020, he partnered with Professor Nate Persily of the Stanford Law School to establish the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project. Since 2001, Professor Stewart has also been a member of the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project, a leading research effort that applies scientific analysis to questions about election technology, election administration, and election reform. He is currently the MIT director of the project. Working with the Pew Charitable Trusts, he helped with the development of Pew’s Elections Performance Index. Professor Stewart also provided advice to the Presidential Commission on Election Administration. His research on measuring the performance of elections and polling place operations led to his serving as the co-editor (with Barry C. Burden) of The Measure of American Elections.
Professor Stewart is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has been recognized at MIT for his undergraduate teaching, and has been named to the second class of MacVicar Fellows in 1994, awarded the Baker Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and is the recipient of the Class of 1960 Fellowship. From 1992 to 2015, he served as head of house of McCormick Hall, along with his spouse, Kathryn M. Hess.
Before sharing his recent work on the ability of states and localities to conduct high quality elections in these turbulent times, Professor Stewart will be introduced by Agustín Rayo PhD ’01, Kenan Sahin Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS).
Agustín Rayo PhD ’01 is a professor of philosophy. His research lies at the intersection of the philosophy of logic and the philosophy of language. He is the author of numerous articles and two books: The Construction of Logical Space (OUP, 2013) and On the Brink of Paradox (MIT Press, 2019), which won the 2020 PROSE Award for best textbook in the humanities. Rayo redesigned 24.118 Paradox and Infinity, a class on topics at the intersection of philosophy and mathematics that is taught both residentially and online. Before his current role as SHASS Dean, Rayo served terms as Associate Dean and Interim Dean of the School, and he additionally served as head of house at one of MIT's undergraduate dormitories.
This live webcast from May 21, 2024, features Professor Charles Stewart III, one of our nation’s premier experts on elections, congressional politics, and American political development. He is the Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science at MIT, where he has taught since 1985. In 2017 he established the MIT Election Data + Science Lab (MEDSL), which applies scientific principles to how elections are studied and administered.
His research about Congress touches on the historical development of committees, origins of partisan polarization, and Senate elections. His books about congressional research include Budget Reform Politics, Electing the Senate (with Wendy J. Schiller), Fighting for the Speakership (with Jeffery A. Jenkins), and Analyzing Congress.
Professor Stewart is an established leader in the analysis of the performance of election systems and the quantitative assessment of election performance. In addition to leading MEDSL, in 2020, he partnered with Professor Nate Persily of the Stanford Law School to establish the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project. Since 2001, Professor Stewart has also been a member of the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project, a leading research effort that applies scientific analysis to questions about election technology, election administration, and election reform. He is currently the MIT director of the project. Working with the Pew Charitable Trusts, he helped with the development of Pew’s Elections Performance Index. Professor Stewart also provided advice to the Presidential Commission on Election Administration. His research on measuring the performance of elections and polling place operations led to his serving as the co-editor (with Barry C. Burden) of The Measure of American Elections.
Professor Stewart is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has been recognized at MIT for his undergraduate teaching, and has been named to the second class of MacVicar Fellows in 1994, awarded the Baker Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and is the recipient of the Class of 1960 Fellowship. From 1992 to 2015, he served as head of house of McCormick Hall, along with his spouse, Kathryn M. Hess.
Before sharing his recent work on the ability of states and localities to conduct high quality elections in these turbulent times, Professor Stewart will be introduced by Agustín Rayo PhD ’01, Kenan Sahin Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS).
Agustín Rayo PhD ’01 is a professor of philosophy. His research lies at the intersection of the philosophy of logic and the philosophy of language. He is the author of numerous articles and two books: The Construction of Logical Space (OUP, 2013) and On the Brink of Paradox (MIT Press, 2019), which won the 2020 PROSE Award for best textbook in the humanities. Rayo redesigned 24.118 Paradox and Infinity, a class on topics at the intersection of philosophy and mathematics that is taught both residentially and online. Before his current role as SHASS Dean, Rayo served terms as Associate Dean and Interim Dean of the School, and he additionally served as head of house at one of MIT's undergraduate dormitories.
![MIT Holiday Greeting 2023 - with Audio Description [AD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GlIF6y2DNNI/mqdefault.jpg "MIT Holiday Greeting 2023 - with Audio Description [AD]
Happy Holidays from MIT President Sally Kornbluth and Professor Danny Lew!
View the video without audio description: https://youtu.be/hXrTLWMhbHQ
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2023 MIT Holiday Greeting team
Creative director: Emily Muldoon Kathan
Core team: Brielle Domings, Brian Geer
Animation: kerpy
Email and digital production: Russell Boulais, Greg Bourne, Gina DAllesandro, Emily Dufresne, Julie Fox, Karla Casey, Kimberly Mancino, Kathryn ONeill, Kate Repantis, Steve Thomas, Margaret Wong, and Mikko Zager
And MIT Alumni Association Chief Executive Officer Whitney T. Espich
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