Jowei Chen

Jowei Chen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan, affiliated with the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. He also serves as Research Associate Professor at the Center for Political Studies (CPS) and Principal Investigator at the Center for Governance and Public Policy Research at Willamette University. His research focuses on redistricting, political geography, and executive bureaucracy, with notable contributions to understanding partisan gerrymandering and electoral bias.

Chen holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University, an M.S. in Statistics from Stanford, and a B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University. His work combines statistical methods with legal and political analysis, frequently appearing in top journals like the American Political Science Review and Quarterly Journal of Political Science.

His research highlights include developing computer simulations to evaluate gerrymandering, analyzing how political geography influences districting outcomes, and studying bureaucratic agency ideologies. He has testified in major voting rights cases, including Gill v. Whitford, and contributed op-eds to outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post. In 2019, he received the 'Defender of Democracy' award from Common Cause for combating partisan gerrymandering.

Chen has secured grants from the National Science Foundation and University of Michigan initiatives, focusing on topics like citizenship-based redistricting and bureaucratic control. He has presented at leading conferences and served as a discussant for political methodology and geography sections at APSA and MPSA.

His research lab and team collaborate on redistricting reform projects, emphasizing empirical approaches to redistricting principles and voting rights. He maintains an active role in public outreach, bridging academic research with legal and policy debates over electoral fairness.