The Center currently has 4 faculty researchers who work in different areas of the voting domain:
Robert M. Stein, Ph.D.
Lena Gohlman Fox Professor of Political Science at Rice University and Fellow in Urban Politics at the Baker Institute
Dr. Stein is the former Dean of the School of Social Sciences (1996-2006). Professor Stein is an expert on urban politics, public policy, voting behavior, emergency preparedness, and severe weather mitigation. In 2006 and 2012, Stein served on the research staff of the Commission on Federal Election Reform and the Presidential Commission on Election Administration. He continues to study and assist local governments in the administration of elections. His current research, funded by the Arnold Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, and the National Science Foundation, focuses on voting behavior, election administration, and emergency preparedness.
Michael D. Byrne, Ph.D.
Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences and Computer Science at Rice University
Dr Byrne’s primary research interests are computational modeling of human performance and usability of voting systems, which he has worked on since 2005. He pioneered usability testing of legacy voting systems (paper ballots, punch cards, lever machines, and DREs), has done research on voting system accessibility, hand-counting of paper ballots, anomaly detection on both review screens and paper ballots, and served as a pro bono consultant for Los Angeles County in the development of the VSAP voting system.
Dan S. Wallach, Ph.D.
Professor in the Departments of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Rice Scholar at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University
Dr. Wallach’s research considers a variety of computer security topics, including electronic voting, Internet censorship, and security issues in web browsers, servers, and smartphone applications. Wallach served on the Air Force Science Advisory Board (2011-2015) and as a member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Technical Guidelines Development Committee (2019+). He is currently on leave from Rice serving as a DARPA program manager.
Philip Kortum, Ph.D.
Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Rice University
Dr. Kortum’s primary interests are in the research and development of highly usable systems in the medical, voting, and mobile computing domains and in the characterization of measures of usability and usable systems. Prior to joining Rice University, he worked for over 15 years in the defense and telecommunications industry, where he researched and helped field award-winning user-centered systems. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and the Association for Psychological Science.