Dean of Social Science
Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of Political Science
Alan Gerber is the dean of the social science division of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of Political Science, and chair of the university-wide committee on data-intensive social science. His current research focuses on how evidence is used in decision making and public policy and on applying experimental and other statistical methods to study political behavior. He has received grants from the Hewlett Foundation, NSF, PEW, and the Smith Richardson Foundation for his work.
Gerber has received various academic honors and awards, including the National Academy of Public Administration’s Louis Brownlow Book Award (2018), best book award from the ASPA Organized Section on Science, Technology, and Environmental Politics in (2018), best paper on public policy award from the APSA Organized Section on Public Policy (2014), best book award from the APSA Organized Section on Experimental Research (2013), the Heinz Eulau Award for the best article in the American Political Science Review (2002), and was recently selected to be a fellow at the Society for Political Methodology (2016). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2009) and the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences (2011), received a Health Policy and Research Investigator Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2008), and was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences (2004–2005).
Gerber has authored or co-authored five books to date, including the latest titled Unhealthy Politics: The Battle Over Evidence-Based Medicine, 2017. He has penned more than one hundred journal articles, book chapters, and other writings. His research has been published in the leading journals including the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, and the Journal of Politics, as well as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. He has served as president of the APSA Organized Section on Experimental Research as well the chair of the APSA Organized Section on Experimental Research Reporting Standards Committee. He is also a faculty research associate in political economy at NBER and a Faculty Affiliate at the Jameel Poverty Action Lab-North America.