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Election 2024 Insights:

Rutgers Experts Available

Rutgers University–New Brunswick and Rutgers Health experts can provide insight and analysis on a diverse array of political issues related to the 2024 elections and current events.

Find Experts

To get connected with our experts, contact Megan Florance (Schumann) at 973-866-3184 or megan.schumann@rutgers.edu.

Criminal Justice Reform

Donna Murch

Expert on mass incarceration and the war on drugs; can speak on the history of the Black Panther Party and other Black power, civil rights and social movements.

Brittany Friedman

Expert on prisons, incarceration and Black protest; can speak to racism in corrections and prisons, Black protest against the criminal justice system and monetary sanctions.

Paul Hirschfield

Expert in crime and justice with an emphasis on their relationship to youth, education and social policy as well as deadly force by police; can speak to U.S. police violence and the possibility of reform and why rates of police lethality in the United States are higher than in Europe.

Economics

FINANCIAL MARKETS

Eugene White

Expert on financial markets, stock market and other booms and busts, regulation of the financial industry and monetary and financial history.

JOBS

Farrokh Langdana

Expert on monetary and fiscal theory, international trade and global macroeconomic policy.

Janice Fine

Expert on federal immigration policy and immigrant labor, low wage work, unions and new forms of worker organization, and government enforcement of minimum wage and other employment laws.

Michael Merrill

Expert on U.S. politics, class conflict and the labor movement, including its continuing campaigns for good jobs and higher wages.

Rebecca Kolins Givan

Expert on strikes, labor unions and their changing relationships with political candidates.

TAXES

Jay Soled

Expert on taxes, including how government defines taxable income, allowable exemptions and permissible deductions.

Rosanne Altshuler

Expert in federal tax policy and economics.

Education

Steve Barnett

Expert in early childhood care and education policy and economics, including preschool education, childcare, the early childhood workforce and parent supports and related policies. Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).

Environmental Issues

CLIMATE CHANGE

Robert Kopp

Expert on sea-level change, coastal climate adaptation and the economic risks of climate change.

Alan Robock

Expert on climate change, global warming, geoengineering, the effects of volcanic eruptions on climate and the effects of nuclear war on climate.

POLICY

Cymie Payne

Expert on natural resource and environmental law, ocean bed mining, global governance of the environment with a focus on the ocean, climate change and protection of the environment in relation to armed conflict. Has participated in the United Nations negotiation of the High Seas Biodiversity Treaty.

Pamela McElwee

Expert on impacts of global environmental problems, with particular expertise in biodiversity conservation, ecosystems and climate change mitigation and adaptation. She has worked in the White House, the US Senate and the Environmental Protection Agency.

ENERGY

Rachael Shwon

Expert on the political and social aspects of energy and climate challenges, specializing in environmental politics. Research focuses on public opinion regarding climate change, household energy consumption, nonprofit business partnerships addressing energy issues and risk communication.

Josh Kohut

Expert on oceanography who can speak to offshore energy. Utilizes ocean observing technologies to study marine ecosystems, storm intensity, water quality, regional fisheries and the coastal waters of Antarctica. Co-leader of the Net-Zero Wind Energy Test Center.

Foreign Affairs

David Foglesong

Expert in U.S. foreign policy, American-Russian relations, missionaries, propaganda, military occupations and national identity; can speak to American-Russian relations in the era of Vladimir Putin, President George W. Bush, President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump.

Gun Violence Prevention

Michael D. Anestis

Expert on gun violence prevention, suicide prevention and firearm purchase surges during COVID-19. Executive director of the New Jersey Center on Gun Violence Research.

Health Care

HEALTH CARE COVERAGE

Joel C. Cantor

Expert on state health care policy; can speak to health insurance generally, as well as the potential impact from COVID on individual and small business coverage in New Jersey.

OPIOID CRISIS

Frank Ghinassi

Expert on behavioral health and addiction perspectives on the statewide effort to address the opioid epidemic, and responses to the epidemic across clinical service, training, research and community partners.

Jamey Lister

Expert on medication treatment for opioid use disorder, overdose-related death, minority health and barriers to treatment among low-income urban and rural communities in New Jersey and the United States.

Stephen Crystal

Health services and policy expert; available to comment on the opioid crisis in general and in relation to COVID, as well as health services and policies needed going forward.

Lewis S. Nelson

Expert on emergency medicine, medical toxicology, addiction medicine, health policy, and prescription medication use.

Immigration

Ali Chaudhary

Expert on international migration and the effects of immigration on political, economic and cultural landscapes across the globe.

Catherine Lee

Expert on immigration, including social relations and inequalities related to race and ethnicity.

Janice Fine

Expert on federal immigration policy and immigrant labor, low-wage work, unions and new forms of worker organization and government enforcement of minimum wage and other employment laws.

Jennifer Hunt

Expert on the economics of immigration, the impact of immigration and the merit-based immigration system.

LGBTQ+

Perry N. Halkitis

Infectious disease epidemiologist, applied statistician, and public health psychologist. Available to discuss LGBTQ+ population health, health disparities, HIV/AIDs, drug abuse, and mental health. Dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health.

Misinformation

Katherine (Katya) Ognyanova

An expert on the effects of social influence on civic and political behavior and public opinion formation, Ognyanova’s recent work examines the links between misinformation exposure and political trust. Ogynanova tracks misinformation campaigns; can speak to dangers of misinformation, how it may influence political action and what to look for.

Britt Paris

Paris tracks misinformation campaigns and can speak to dangers of misinformation, how it may influence political action and what to look for.

Politics and Elections

AMERICAN POLITICS

Ross K. Baker

Expert on American government, U.S. legislative politics, congressional issues and the presidency.

David Greenberg

Expert on American political and cultural history, including the presidency, campaigns and elections, political parties, political ideas and public policy. Professor of history and of Journalism and Media Studies and contributing editor to Politico.

DECISION-MAKING

Richard Lau

Expert on political decision-making, the different strategies voters use to choose a candidate and the effect of the media on political campaigns. Chair of the Rutgers political science department and author of How Voters Decide: Information Processing During Election Campaigns.

Katherine McCabe

An expert on political psychology, public opinion and political communication, McCabe explores how social identities, attitudes and personal experiences shape political engagement and decision-making.

Reproductive Rights/Abortion

Leslie Kantor

Expert on sexual and reproductive health, women’s health, abortion and access to care. Formerly the vice president of education at Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Laura Lindberg

Expert on sexual and reproductive health, women’s health, abortion and access to care.

Cynthia Daniels

Expert on reproductive policy and law, with specializations in abortion politics, criminalization of pregnancy, fetal rights and constitutional rights.

Margaret Marsh

Marsh is a co-author of The Pursuit of Parenthood: Reproductive Technology from Test-Tube Babies to Uterus Transplants (2019), a history of assisted reproduction from the early days of IVF to the technologies of the present.

Johanna Schoen

Expert on the history of women and medicine, reproductive rights and abortion.

Yana Rodgers

Expert on pay equity for women and the relationship between women’s economic empowerment and their access to reproductive health services, including abortion.

Voting

POLLING

Ashley Koning

Expert on American public opinion, survey design, polling trends and mass political behavior. Director of Rutgers’ Eagleton Center for Public Polling and Eagleton assistant research professor.

VOTER ACCESS AND YOUTH VOTE

Elizabeth Matto

Expert on youth political participation, youth voter turnout, young candidates running for office and youth voter mobilization. Director of Rutgers’ Center for Youth Political Participation at the Eagleton Institute of Politics.

Lisa Schur

Expert on disability voting, polling place accessibility and the political engagement of people with disabilities.

Mark Beal

Expert on Generation Z and how they are transforming media, marketing, the workplace, pop culture and society; can speak to reaching Gen Z during the election and the youth vote. Author of Engaging Gen Z and Decoding Gen Z.

Women in Politics

THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN WOMEN AND POLITICS

Debbie Walsh

Expert on the modern history of women in politics, progress in political representation, women and the political parties and campaign messaging for women candidates.

Jean Sinzdak

Expert on milestones in women's political history, candidate recruitment and training and state legislatures.

Kelly Dittmar

Expert on gender and campaigning, women and institutions of government, current data and analysis on women's representation and women voters.