Paul Gölz

Paul Gölz is an Assistant Professor at Cornell University's School of Operations Research and Information Engineering (ORIE), with affiliations in Computer Science. His research focuses on computational social choice, algorithmic fairness, and AI ethics, addressing topics like democratic innovation, fair resource allocation, and AI systems for diverse users.

Education: Undergraduate studies at Saarland University (Germany), PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, followed by postdoctoral research at Harvard University, UC Berkeley, and the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute. His work has been recognized with awards including the JPMorgan Chase AI Research Fellowship (2021) and honorable mentions for prestigious dissertation awards (Dantzig and ACM SIGecom).

Research Highlights: Developed Panelot, a tool for selecting citizens' assemblies using state-of-the-art algorithms. His work on fair refugee resettlement and apportionment methods has been featured in Operations Research and Nature. Recent projects include AI alignment distortion analysis and generative social choice mechanisms.

Teaching: Teaches Optimized Democracy (Spring 2025) and Mathematical Programming (Fall 2024). Supervises PhD students in ORIE, focusing on interdisciplinary applications of optimization and social choice.

Awards & Grants: Received a $40K Structural Democracy Fellowship (Crankstart) and an OpenAI grant for Democratic Inputs to AI. Active in policy briefs (e.g., mini-public selection strategies).

Labs/Tools: Co-developed Panelot.org, a nonprofit platform for fair citizen assembly selection. Active in open-source tool development for social choice applications.