Lucas Zhu

Throughout high school, I found myself constantly reading about current events, with a particular interest in elections and political pollings. While I enjoyed looking at graphs and data visuals, I was initially scared of coding and had not recognized how useful it could be in political science. However, after taking PSCI 1800, I discovered how much I enjoyed using tools like R to study the social sciences and research topics that I was interested in.

In Spring 2024, I joined Penn’s Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES) as a fellow and have worked with Professor Marc Meredith to research the impact of ballot ordering effects in Ohio. I hope to guide others interested in studying the social sciences and would be happy to answer any questions about the use of data analytics in politics!

• PORES Research Fellow