Data Science for Political Campaigns

We’re excited to be hosting Matthew Rattigan from CDS at UMass.

TITLE: Data Science for Political Campaigns

ABSTRACT: In recent years, presidential campaigns have become increasingly quantitative in nature. Once dominated by a small group of backroom strategists making gut decisions, modern campaigns have become increasingly reliant on data-backed decision support. Over the past two decades, this "moneyball-ization" of politics has transformed the way campaigns are run and how resources are allocated.

In this talk, I will describe my experiences working for the Analytics Department of Obama For America during the 2012 election cycle. As a digital analyst, I worked alongside political scientists, statisticians, and physicists on problems ranging from social media analytics to quantifying the effects of communications and messaging. In addition, I'll touch upon some of the privacy issues brought up in the 2016 election cycle.

BIO: Matthew Rattigan is the Director of Research Programs at the Center for Data Science at UMass. Prior to joining CDS, he has worked in finance, politics, and founded a data-intensive startup. He received his doctorate from the UMass Computer Science Department.