Alexander C. Furnas

Alexander Furnas studies the intersection of science, politics, and policy. His research examines how scientific knowledge is produced, funded, and used in political processes — with a focus on partisan disparities in the funding and use of science, lobbying and interest group politics, and congressional capacity. He uses survey experiments, text analysis, and network methods to study elite political behavior and the role of information and expertise in policymaking.

His work has been published in Science (×2), American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Research Quarterly, Quarterly Journal of Political Science, and ICLR, among other venues. It has received multiple best paper awards from APSA and the Center for Effective Lawmaking.

His research has been featured in The Atlantic, The Economist, Nature, Time, The Washington Post, Vox, The Financial Times, Psychology Today, and other outlets. His work on congressional staff capacity was cited in the final report of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress and contributed to a 21% increase in the Members' Representational Allowance signed into law in 2022.

Prior to joining Northwestern, he received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, an M.Sc. with Distinction from the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford, and a B.A. with High Honors from the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan University. He was previously a research fellow at the Sunlight Foundation.