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University of Washington |
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John D. Wilkerson Associate Professor Department of Political Science |
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My research focuses primarily on legislative politics although, as described below, I am involved in several long term projects. My main research activities center on the Congressional Bills Project, which I initiated with Professor Scott Adler (University of Colorado) in 2001. This project archives information about congressional legislation introduced since 1947 (~400,000) in a format that is useful to researchers. The trends page of the website is worth a look if you’ve ever wondered about what makes some legislators more effective than others. Scott and I study the purposes and effects of legislative organizations such as committees. Our current work proposes an alternative theory of committee organization that emphasizes the ongoing policy management responsibilities of Congress.
The Bills Project data are also valued as a corpus by computer and information scientists developing automated methods for labeling events (otherwise known as supervised learning systems or natural language processing). For several years I have been collaborating with Steve Purpura and Dustin Hillard to develop and validate a machine learning algorithm for classifying political text by issue topic. This system will dramatically reduce the costs of topic classifying the 10,000 bills introduced each Congress, but it is also being used as the starting point for related projects at the state level and in other nations (see below). I have recently completed a special journal volume on this subject with Claire Cardie of Information Sciences at Cornell University.
I also collaborate with colleagues in the U.S. and Europe on the Comparative Agendas Project, which is an outgrowth of the Policy Agendas Project. The goal of this project is to construct systematic indicators for comparing government issue agendas across long time periods. We didn’t know whether it would be feasible to make such comparisons, but have since learned that a single topic coding systems does a very good job of capturing the range of issues addressed in advanced democracies. This project was initiated in 2001 while I was a visiting professor at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, and has since expanded to include researchers from at least 7 nations. During 2007-08, I spent a semester at the University of Barcelona working on the CAP with Spanish (Catalan) researchers. We held our first annual conference in Barcelona in June 2008.
At the bottom of this page I link to some recent papers and articles.
TEACHING
Undergraduate: U.S. Congress, State Politics, Undergraduate Research Graduate: American Government, Game Theory for Political Scientists.
Our Center for American Politics and Public Policy (CAPPP) mentors about eight Undergraduate Fellows per year. These students meet with faculty twice a week to discuss political science and their work on Center directed research projects. At the end of the year, Fellows present their findings at the Annual UW Undergraduate Research Symposium. It’s a great program for learning more about the political science research process.
We admit about 14 highly qualified Ph.D. students per year. Many of our students are well trained due to required and advanced methods opportunities offered through CSSS. Two recent graduates have received prestigious APSA best dissertation awards, and several have published their dissertations as award-winning books and articles.
Instructional Technology. In 2001 I created an internet- based virtual legislature called LegSim (using my POLS 353 students as guinea pigs!). In 2002, LegSim won the Best Academic Website Award of the American Political Science Association Information and Technology Section and has since been used by about 5,000 students in classes across the U.S. and in Europe. Sean Kellogg is the lead developer and has been with the project for all but the first year.
I’m currently involved in two applied research projects assessing the educational benefits of informal learning environments such as LegSim. The first is developing a year long Advanced Placement Government curriculum in collaboration with the Bellevue school district, the LIFE center at the UW, and the George Lucas Educational Foundation. The second project is using natural language processing techniques to assess the effects of on line learning activities for the development of argumentation and critical thinking skills (with Carolyn Penstein Rose of Carnegie Mellon University). SERVICE
Service refers to activities on behalf of the university and community in addition to teaching and research. Faculty serve on hiring, evaluation and admissions committees. We serve as liaisons to other programs and organizations on campus, and we are involved in off-campus organizations as well.
Off campus, I have been especially involved with the Thomas C. Wales Foundation. One goal of this organization is to promote civic involvement by drawing attention to truly remarkable efforts by ordinary people, and by facilitating enriching non-profit internship opportunities. Three-fourths of all UW Arts and Sciences graduates remain in the state, and more than half remain in the Seattle area. The Wales Foundation internship program is designed for advanced students of any major and it’s a great opportunity to get hooked on community involvement!
Thanks for visiting!
Links to projects and programs
LegSim: Legislative Simulation Center for American Politics and Public Policy CAPPP Undergraduate Fellows Program
Some recent and forthcoming publications
Intended consequences: Jurisdictional reform and issue control in the U.S. House of Representatives. [Legislative Studies Quarterly, 33:1] How agenda setting attributes shape politics: Basic dilemmas, problem attention and health politics developments in Denmark and the U.S. [European Journal of Political Research, 13(7): 1039-1052] Simulating a federal legislature. [Academic Exchange, 10(4)]
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Box 353530 Seattle WA 98195 Phone: 206-543-2780 jwilker(at)u(dot)washington(dot)edu
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