Bailey Flanigan (she/her)

I'm a fifth-year PhD student in the CMU Computer Science Department. I have the pleasure of being advised by Ariel Procaccia. I am funded by a Fannie and John Hertz Fellowship, an NSF GRFP, and a Siebel Scholarship.

I'll be joining MIT as an assistant professor in Fall 2025, joint between Political Science and EECS (LIDS). Next year, I will be a postdoc at the Harvard Ash Center hosted by Archon Fung, supported by an HDSI Fellowship.

[2/14] I have a new working paper with Carmel Baharav, titled Fair, Manipulation-Robust, and Transparent Sortition. We study how to simultaneously ensure three ideals considered in past work on sortition: fairness (ensuring no one receives too little chance of selection), manipulation-robustness (reducing incentives for people to try to increase their chances of selection by misreporting their features), and transparency (being able to select the final panel via a physical lottery).

[2/14] I also recently posted significantly updated versions of two working papers: The Distortion of Public-Spirited Participatory Budgeting, and Voters with Stakes Can Ward Off Bad Outcomes (formerly, Toward accounting for stakes in voting).

Research. I do computer science research motivated by the goal of making democratic processes more equitable and more effective — two goals I believe are, in many contexts, one in the same. I usually work with theoretical models and tools from social choice, AGT, and algorithms, but I work hard to make sure my work incorporates input from practitioners and research from other disciplines, especially political science. 

Before coming to CMU, I did my BS in biomedical engineering at UW-Madison, where I primarily researched cancer biology. Afterwards, I spent a few years doing research in economics (Yale), computer science (Drexel), and public health (Philani Nonprofit in South Africa). 

Teaching. Within and outside of research, I am passionate about inclusive teaching and mentoring. During my PhD, I led the CS-JEDI project, which entailed the creation of CMU's introductory DEI course for first-year PhD students. Its curriculum is open-sourced and designed to be adaptable to new settings. For details, see the CS-JEDI Project page. For additional resources (some related to teaching and mentoring), see the Resources page. 

Funding. I am funded by a Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellowship and an NSF GRFP.

I enjoy communicating my work and talking with students who want to learn more about computer science research, DEI education, etc. Please don't hesitate to reach out!

e-mail bflaniga at andrew dot cmu dot edu 

office 6002 Gates-Hillman Center (CMU) 

         5.449 Science and Engineering Complex (Harvard)

links google scholar, dblp, CV