Geometry of Redistricting: Summer School
From the webpage:
A 5-day summer school will be offered at Tufts University from August 7-11, 2017, with the principal purpose of training mathematicians to be expert witnesses for court cases on redistricting and gerrymandering.
Topics covered in the summer school will include:
- the legal history of the Voting Rights Act and its subsequent renewals, extensions, and clarifications;
- an explanation of “traditional districting principles,” especially compactness;
- a course in metric geometry and mathematical ideas for perimeter-free compactness;
- basic rudiments of GIS and the technical side of how shapefiles work;
- training on being an expert witness;
- ideas for incorporating voting and civil rights into mathematics teaching.
Some of the sessions in the summer school will be open to the public, and others will be limited to official participants. Partial funding for participants’ expenses will be available. The summer school is aimed at, but not limited to, people with doctoral training in mathematics. Preference will be given to those who can stay for the full week.
An application form will be posted on this website, and applications will be accepted from February 15 – March 31. Please contact gerrymandr@gmail.com to be added to the mailing list.
If you don’t have doctoral training in mathematics, consider the resources at: Gerrymandering and the shape of fairness, which self-describes as:
This site is devoted to the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group run by Moon Duchin on understanding apportionment, districting, and gerrymandering as problems at the intersection of law, civil rights, and mathematics (particularly metric geometry).
Do you need a reminder the mid-term congressional elections in 2018 aren’t far away?
Enjoy!