Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
October 25, 2017, Belmont Media Center, Belmont MA

Justin Solomon, Ph.D., X-Consortium Career Development Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science; Principal investigator, Geometric Data Processing Group; Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL); Massachusetts Institute of Technology; ** Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group**.

Dr. Solomon's broad mathematical expertise includes the investigation of mathematical processes in major civic concerns --specifically, gerrymandering. He is a member of the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group (MGGG), a Boston-based team of mathematicians headed by Moon Duchin of Tufts University. The mission of MGGG is to study applications of geometry and computing to U.S. redistricting --i.e., gerrymandering. The MGGG views this restructuring of voting districts as a fundamental threat to our democracy. This is welcome attention from the scientific academic community to a major issue in America today. Dr. Solomon discusses how the gerrymander distorts the voting population to favor one group of voters over others. Today, mathematicians have the tools to analyze the gerrymander and recommend more equitable structuring of voting districts. This effort is an outstanding demonstration of mathematicians representing the public interest. Dr. Solomon's discussion is of great importance at this time and we will likely hear much more about this group (MGGG) in the future.

Dr. Solomon's presentation at the summer 2017 gerrymander workshop at Tufts Univ.

articles about the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group

• Rebooting the mathematics behind gerrymandering
• NPR: Mathematicians Could Help In Gerrymandering Legal Cases
• Meet the Math Professor Who’s Fighting Gerrymandering With Geometry
• A Summer School for Mathematicians Fed Up with Gerrymandering
• Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group (MGGG)
• The Math Behind Gerrymandering and Wasted Votes
• The Math Behind Gerrymandering and Wasted Votes

articles on the problem of gerrymandering

• The New Front in the Gerrymandering Wars: Democracy vs. Math
• The Math Behind Gerrymandering and Wasted Votes
• Can Math Solve the Congressional Districting Problem?
• (Germany) Researchers Develop Mathematical Method for Defining Electoral Districts
• AP analysis shows how gerrymandering benefited GOP in 2016