The Independent View: PA Gov. to Enlist Non-Partisan Mathematician to Evaluate Fairness of Redistricting Maps

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) announced He will enlist a Non-Partisan Mathematician, Moon Duchin, Ph.D. an Associate Professor of Mathematics from Tufts University, to provide him guidance on evaluating Redistricting Maps for Fairness. Wolf has made clear since the Supreme Court ruled the Map Unconstitutional that he saw this as an opportunity to eliminate Partisan Gerrymandering and deliver the People of Pennsylvania a fair Congressional Map.

“Moon Duchin has been a leader in applying mathematics, geometry, and analytics to evaluate redistricted maps and work to eliminate extreme partisan gerrymandering,” Wolf said. “The people of Pennsylvania are tired of partisan games and gridlock – made worse by gerrymandering – and it is my mission to reverse the black-eye of having some of the worst gerrymandering in the country. I am open and willing to work with the General Assembly but I will not accept an unfair map and enlisting a non-partisan expert is essential to ensure that is possible.”

Moon Duchin serves as Director of Tufts’ interdisciplinary Science, Technology, and Society program. Her Mathematical Research is in Geometric Group Theory, Low-Dimensional Topology, and Dynamics. She is also one of the Leaders of the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group, a Tisch College-supported Project that focuses Mathematical attention on issues of Electoral Redistricting.

Duchin’s Research looks at the Metric Geometry of Groups and Surfaces, often by zooming out to the large scale picture. Duchin has also Worked and Lectured on issues in the History, Philosophy, and Cultural Studies of Math and Science, such as the Role of Intuition and the Nature and Impact of Ideas about Genius. She is involved in a range of Educational Projects in Mathematics: She is a veteran visitor at the Canada/USA Mathcamp for talented High School Students, has worked with Middle School Teachers in Chicago Public Schools, Developed Inquiry-based Coursework for future Elementary School Teachers at the University of Michigan, and briefly Partnered with the Poincaré Institute for Mathematics Education at Tufts.