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Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor in the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston. I completed my PhD in Political Science and MA in Statistics at Rice University. I also hold an MA in American Studies, with a focus on African American History and Culture, from Doshisha University. In 2022-2023, I was Guarini Dean’s Fellow in the Politics of Race and Ethnicity at Dartmouth College. In 2026-2027, I serve as the Chair of the Representation and Electoral Systems Organized Section at APSA.

My research focuses on three broad fields of electoral systems, race and representation, and political methodology. I assemble new data to show how political institutions shape electoral competition and representation, leveraging the cases of ranked-choice voting and minority representation in American politics. Methodologically, I develop practical methods for political science research, including tools for political ranking data analysis. My research has appeared in the American Political Science Review and Political Analysis. My dissertation, Political Methodologies for Electoral Engineering and Minority Representation, received the John W. Gardner Award for the Best Dissertation in Social Sciences.

Contact
Email: atsusaka@uh.edu
Google Scholar: YukiAtsusaka
Dataverse: YukiAtsusaka
Social media: @Yuki_Atsusaka
Curriculum Vitae: pdf
GitHub: here

Publications

Yuki Atsusaka and Seo-young Silvia Kim. 2025. “Addressing Measurement Errors in Ranking Questions for the Social Sciences‘‘ Political Analysis.
- Topics: political methodology, race and representation
- [R Package: rankingQ], [Article Summary], [Replication Files], [Preprint]
Yuki Atsusaka. 2025. “Analyzing Ballot Order Effects When Voters Rank Candidates“ Political Analysis 33 (1) 64-72.
- Topics: political methodology, electoral systems
- [Article Summary], [Replication Files], [Preprint]
Yuki Atsusaka and Randolph T. Stevenson. 2023. “A Bias-Corrected Estimator for the Crosswise Model with Inattentive Respondents“ Political Analysis 31 (1) 134-148.
- Topics: political methodology
- [R Package: cWise], [Article Summary], [Replication Files], [Preprint]
Yuki Atsusaka. 2021. “A Logical Model for Predicting Minority Representation: Application to Redistricting and Voting Rights Cases“ American Political Science Review 115 (4), 1210-1225.
- Topics: race and representation
- [R Package: logical], [Article Summary], [Replication Files]

Selected Working Papers

“When Does Ranked-Choice Voting Reduce Polarization?” (with Theodore Landsman)
“The Margin of Victory in Ranked-Choice Voting” (with Silviya Valeva and Agustin Vallejo)
“Who Do People Blame for Affective Polarization?” (with Seo-young Silvia Kim) Under Review
“Archive: A Database of Tabulated Results from American Ranked-Choice Voting Elections” (with Jordan Holbrook) Revise and Resubmit
“How Incumbency Shapes Electoral Competitiveness in Ranked-Choice Voting” (with Silviya Valeva and Agustin Vallejo) Under Review

Software