R. Michael Alvarez

Mail Code: MC 228-77

Phone: 626-395-4228

Email: [email protected]

Administrative Assistant:

Name: Sabrina C. Hameister

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 626-395-4228

For media and interview requests,
please contact:

Robert Perkins
Senior Media Relations Manager
Caltech Office of Strategic Communications
Cell Phone: 626-658-1053
Email: [email protected]

Research Website

HSS Home / People / R. Michael Alvarez

Flintridge Foundation Professor of Political and Computational Social Science

B.A., Carleton College, 1986; M.A., Duke University, 1990; Ph.D., 1992. Assistant Professor, Caltech, 1992-95; Associate Professor, 1995-2002; Professor, 2002-24; Flintridge Foundation Professor, 2024-.

Michael Alvarez's research focuses on public opinion and voting behavior, election technology and administration, electoral politics, political campaigns, and statistical and computational modeling. He has long been interested in empirically testing formal models of elections and voting behavior.

Alvarez is the co-director of the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project. He is a fellow of the Society for Political Methodology and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has been recognized for his mentoring work, both at Caltech by the Graduate Student Council (twice) and by the Society for Political Methodology. He also received the Emerging Scholar Award in the Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior Section of the American Political Science Association in 2001.

Research Summary

Elections; Campaigns; Political Behavior; Election Administration; Election Security; Election Technology; Public Opinion; Political Methodology; Statistics; Computer Science; Machine Learning; Deep Learning; Survey Methodology

Caltech Affiliations