Welcome to my website! I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, St. George Campus.  I am cross-appointed with the Munk School of Global Affairs and I am also a Faculty Fellow at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society.

Previously, I was a Banting postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. I received my PhD in Political Science from l’Université de Montréal and my Honours BA and MA from the University of Toronto.

I study Canadian politics, with a particular focus on political recruitment and representation, specifically, who runs for public office and who ultimately gains representation. I have compiled the largest publicly available dataset on candidates in Canadian federal elections, covering the period from 1867 to the present. This dataset is introduced in the article “Who Runs? Canadian Federal and Ontario Provincial Candidates from 1867 to 2019” [Animation Video], and is maintained and updated as new elections occur, enabling ongoing research into the characteristics and dynamics of those who seek elected office. In addition, through a series of experimental studies, I examine the development of AI-based systems designed to inform and persuade voters through dialogue, with a focus on electoral contexts in both Canada and the United States.

Some ongoing projects include:

Chatbot Voting Advice Applications Inform But Seldom Sway Young Unaligned Voters (with Yamil Velez and Donald P. Green). Published in PNAS.

Can AI Help Reduce Prejudice? Evaluating the Effectiveness of AI-Powered Personalized Persuasion on Support for Transgender Rights (with Charles Crabtree, John Holbein and Mitchell Bosley). Working Paper.

AI Weakens, But Does Not Strengthen, Political Attitudes (with Can Mekik). Working Paper.

A Meta-Reanalysis of a Decade of Candidate Choice Conjoint Experiments (with Alexander Coppock, Matthew Blyth and Marco M. Aviña)

Gender and Political Representation

Preferences for Electoral Outcomes (with André Blais)

Mentoring: As the first person in my family to attend university, I know how challenging it can be to navigate higher education. If you are a first-generation, low-income student seeking mentorship, please feel free to reach out using this form.