2023-24 IMD Fellows Program Update
The 2023-24 IMD Fellows are hard at work on their research projects, which aim to advance thinking at the intersection of mathematics and politics.
Cammy Zhou and Leah Valentiner are studying topological social choice theory. The goal is to endow discrete sets of data with a clever topology and then try to use some standard topological invariants (like homology) to extract information about the questions underlying the data. In this way, topology provides a novel point of view that illuminates social choice structures that might otherwise not be discernible. Cammy and Leah are applying these methods to questions of power distribution in political structures and analyze quantification of power in a topological way. They will share their findings through a paper that will be submitted for publication.
Gabby Mackiewicz and Janaki Kapadia are comparing various formats or primaries/preliminaries and subsequent general elections for single-seat races. The aim of their research is to measure quantities such as percentage of preliminary voters who see a candidate they support or are at least interested in advance to the general, effectiveness of the general election field, general election candidate quality in terms of total support received, comprehensibility of general election field, impact of winnowing for voters, and effective competitiveness and voter choice or freedom in the general election. Their research will provide the basis for a report that can be used by a wide variety of institutions and organizations related to democracy.
