MIT/Tufts, Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group (MGGG)

Position ID: 1945-SUMMERFELLOW [#13461]
Position Title: Voting Rights Data Institute Summer Fellows
Position Type: Student programs
Position Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States [map]
Subject Areas: Data science, geography, geometry, voting rights, gerrymandering, computer science, mathematics
Application Deadline: 2019/02/15** finished (2019/01/02, finished 2019/08/18)
Position Description:    


The Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group (MGGG) is running a six-week summer data research program, June 17-July 26, 2019. This program, called the Voting Rights Data Institute (VRDI), is supervised by Moon Duchin (Tufts Mathematics) and Justin Solomon (MIT EECS). The projected size of the program is 25 students: roughly 15 undergraduate and 10 graduate students. The principal goal of the program is to engage students directly with mathematical, computational, and statistical techniques and with geographical, demographic, and political data needed to assess and redress gerrymandering.

Work will take place in a group setting, with undergraduates working independently and in teams, supervised by graduate students and faculty. Groups will rotate through collaborative workspaces at Tufts, MIT, and Harvard/Radcliffe, with housing available on the Tufts campus. For more information about the program and the necessary qualifications to apply, visit

Note: the MathJobs service is primarily used by people who hold PhDs, so you should just leave blank any fields that are not applicable, such as PhD advisor if you are an undergrad.

Materials needed for application:
  • CV or resume including list of relevant research or coding projects, with links to repositories, Jupyter notebooks, or websites if applicable.
  • Two letters of recommendation from professors or other mentors/supervisors.
  • Cover letter specifically describing your interest in this program. Be sure to directly address any significant experience in any of the following background areas:
    1. Mathematics, especially discrete math or geometry
    2. Social science research, including demography, political science, law, racial polarization
    3. Geography, including GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
    4. Computer science, including algorithm design, machine learning, and optimization
    5. Programming and software development, especially in Python
    6. Data science; statistical analysis of datasets; network science
    7. MCMC (Markov chain Monte Carlo) or other probabilistic sampling methods

Please also describe your interest in elections, democracy, and civil rights. We are committed to training a diverse cohort of data scientists and we DO NOT assume that successful applicants already have all or most of the skills described above.

Note: The deadline has been extended to February 15, 2019!

Application Materials Required:
And anything else requested in the position description.

Further Info:
32 Vassar Street, room 32-D460
Cambridge, MA 02139

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