Simon David Jackman

Professor of Political Science. Leader in the Bayesian revolution in political science. His book, Bayesian Analysis for the Social Sciences (2009), has become a standard work in the field. Together with Joshua Clinton and Douglas Rivers, he pioneered the use of item response theory (IRT) as a statistical framework for estimating ideal points of legislators. He applied that approach in a variety of domains, including estimation of democracy as a latent variable. His substantive research on American, Australian, and comparative politics has been award-winning, receiving the Gregory M. Luebbert Prize for the best article in comparative politics published in 2008 or 2009 and the Best Paper Award from the Journal of Politics for 2006. He performed an exceptional role in academic leadership, with Gary Segura and Vince Hutchings, as a principal investigator of the American National Election Studies, 2009-2013. He also served as principal investigator, with Lynn Vavreck, of the Cooperative Campaign Analysis Project, 2007-2008, and as president of the Society for Political Methodology, 2003-2005.