Expertise
American Political Institutions, Quantitative Methodology, Formal Modeling, Congress, Legislative Behavior
Biography
Ryan J. Vander Wielen is a Professor of Political Science and (by courtesy) Economics at Temple University. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of American political institutions, political decision-making, quantitative methodology, and formal modeling.
Much of his research examines how legislators strategically navigate their electoral circumstances, and whether voters hold elected representatives accountable for their behavior in office. His work has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Analysis, Public Choice, Political Research Quarterly, and elsewhere. He is the co-author of Taming Intuition (Cambridge University Press), Politics Over Process (University of Michigan Press), The American Congress (Cambridge University Press), and The American Congress Reader (Cambridge University Press). He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in legislative politics, statistical methods, and game theory.
He received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis after receiving his B.A. in Government and B.Mus. in Music Performance (classical guitar) from Lawrence University. He has held visiting fellowships at Duke University and Sciences-Po Lyon, and is a Faculty Affiliate with the Behavioral Foundations Lab at Temple University.