Ryan Vander Wielen, PhD- Temple University
The American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship Program is a highly selective, nonpartisan program devoted to expanding knowledge and awareness of Congress. Since 1953, it has brought select political scientists, journalists, federal employees, health specialists, and other professionals to Capitol Hill to experience Congress at work through fellowship placements on congressional staffs.
Ryan Vander Wielen is Professor of Political Science and (by courtesy) Economics at Temple University. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of American political institutions, political decision-making, quantitative methodology, and formal modeling.
Much of Ryan’s research examines how legislators strategically navigate their electoral circumstances, and whether voters hold elected representatives accountable for their behavior in office. His work has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Analysis, Public Choice, Political Research Quarterly, and elsewhere. He is the co-author of Taming Intuition (Cambridge University Press), which was the winner of the 2018 Robert E. Lane Award from the APSA Political Psychology section and the 2018 Best Book Award from the APSA Experimental Research section. His is also the co-author of Politics Over Process (University of Michigan Press), The American Congress (Cambridge University Press/Rowman & Littlefield), and The American Congress Reader (Cambridge University Press).
Ryan received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis after receiving his B.A. in Government and B.Mus. in Music Performance (classical guitar) from Lawrence University. He has served on the editorial board of Legislative Studies Quarterly. Ryan has held visiting fellowships at Duke University and Sciences-Po Lyon, and is a Faculty Affiliate with the Behavioral Foundations Lab at Temple University.