Bailey Flanigan (she/her)

I'm currently an HDSI post-doctoral fellow at Harvard, hosted by Archon Fung at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. I'll be joining MIT as an assistant professor in Fall 2025, joint between Political Science and EECS (LIDS). 

[2/14] I have a new working paper with Carmel Baharav, titled Fair, Manipulation-Robust, and Transparent Sortition. We study how to simultaneously ensure three ideals considered in past work on sortition: fairness (ensuring no one receives too little chance of selection), manipulation-robustness (reducing incentives for people to try to increase their chances of selection by misreporting their features), and transparency (being able to select the final panel via a physical lottery).

[2/14] I also recently posted significantly updated versions of two working papers: The Distortion of Public-Spirited Participatory Budgeting, and Voters with Stakes Can Ward Off Bad Outcomes (formerly, Toward accounting for stakes in voting).

Research. I do computer science research motivated by the goal of making democratic processes more equitable and more effective — two goals I believe are, in many contexts, one in the same. I usually work with theoretical models and tools from social choice, AGT, and algorithms, but I work hard to make sure my work incorporates input from practitioners and research from other disciplines, especially political science. 

In 2024, I completed my PhD in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, where I was incredibly fortunate to be advised by Ariel Procaccia. Before that, I did my BS in Bioengineering at UW-Madison, where I primarily researched cancer. Between undergrad and graduate school, I spent a few years doing research in economics (Yale), computer science (Drexel), and public health (Philani Nonprofit in South Africa). 

Teaching. Within and outside of research, I am passionate about inclusive teaching and mentoring. During my PhD, I led the CS-JEDI project, which entailed the creation of CMU's introductory DEI course for first-year PhD students. Its curriculum is open-sourced and designed to be adaptable to new settings. For details, see the CS-JEDI Project page. For additional resources (some related to teaching and mentoring), see the Resources page. 

Funding. I am funded by a Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellowship and an NSF GRFP.

I enjoy communicating my work and talking with students who want to learn more about computer science research, DEI education, etc. Please don't hesitate to reach out!

e-mail bflaniga at andrew dot cmu dot edu 

office 6002 Gates-Hillman Center (CMU) 

         5.449 Science and Engineering Complex (Harvard)

links google scholar, dblp, CV