Presidential Awards for Understanding Democracy

In recent years, growing support for populism and anti-intellectualism have drawn increased scholarly attention to the role anti-establishment views play in undermining the health of democratic societies. Our proposal is to develop open-source computational social science infrastructure for observing and understanding attitudes towards public-serving institutions and democratic systems on social media. Additionally, we will conduct experiments to establish how incentives can influence the types of social media content that people choose to view given these anti-establishment views. Our work will lead to new understandings of not only how people feel about public-serving institutions today, but also lay the foundation for being able to assess these attitudes from observational data over time. Finally, our experimental work will provide new insights into the contexts in which mainstream news media is perceived to be providing accurate information.

Sabina Tomkins

Tomkins joined UMSI as assistant professor in Fall 2021. Her research applies computational methods to advance understanding in policy relevant domains. Her methods interests include responsible AI, survey design, and causal inference, and she currently works in the domains of computational sustainability, political science, and education policy.

Ariel Hasell

Hasell is an Assistant Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan. Broadly, her research focuses on digital media, public opinion, and public engagement with politics and science. She uses quantitative methodologies to examine how an individual’s choice of news media content influences various attitudes and behaviors, including information evaluation, motivations to process and share information, and the formation of policy preferences.

Her current research is focused on how social media are changing the nature of expertise and who is perceived to be an expert on topics related to science (e.g. sustainability and wellness) and politics (e.g. journalism and institutions).

As you read this, President Trump is teaching Americans about their democracy. Almost daily, they hear about executive action, signed and delivered by the President. How is this barrage of news shaping American's perceptions of their democracy? How does it influence their trust in public institutions? We have few answers. This pilot project, and the larger initiative it is part of, attempt to address the need for careful, rigorous social science on the impact of the routine use of executive power in a democracy.

I will conduct a first-of-its-kind study of public consumption of news about executive action. Over a 10-week period, I will collect individual-level web traffic data from a pilot sample of 850 US adults, surveyed about their opinions on American democratic institutions. I pair this data with an ongoing effort to track and catalogue all presidential unilateral actions during the Trump administration. This will allow us to estimate the impact of executive actions on public perceptions of American democracy, and provide initial descriptive findings about how both factors relate to trust in democratic institutions.

This project will join ongoing projects of the Executive Policy Research Group (EPRG), which examine the impact of executive power in the United States. EPRG, which is made up of a faculty lead, postdoctoral researcher, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers, expects an initial round of foundation funding this Winter term. The pilot project we describe would be instrumental in our group making the case for longer-term financial support.

Kenneth Lowande 

Lowande studies presidential power, Congress, and bureaucratic politics. He is an associate professor of political science and public policy at the University of Michigan. Previously, he held research fellowships at Washington University in St. Louis and Princeton University. His work has been discussed in the The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NPR, USA Today, Fox News and ABC News. His new book, False Front: The Failed Promise of Presidential Power in a Polarized Age, has been called “a tour de force that will reorient scholarship on the American presidency.”

Democracy & Design examines the intersection of democratic practice and the systems—spatial, technical, and organizational—that sustain it. Conceived as an exhibition, catalogue and public program, the project reflects on the historical evolution of democratic structures while proposing new frameworks for governance that address the realities of a fractured, rapidly changing world.

Democracy, as this project understands it, is not an abstraction. It is a lived experience, shaped by the spaces where engagement, debate, and decision-making happen. From public squares to hybrid forums to experimental platforms, the project explores how the design of these spaces either invites participation or enforces exclusion. It is built on the premise that democracy’s survival depends on its capacity to adapt, expand, and embed itself our everyday lives.

At its core, the proposal seeks to foster what it calls the “democratic individual.” This effort becomes urgent in the face of emergent realities: declining voter turnout, eroding trust in institutions, the rise of populism, and the normalization of post-truth politics. By focusing attention on a curated series of both institutionally sanctioned and less visible practices of democracy, the project identifies ways to reimagine participation and create spaces where collective decision-making is reinvigorated. Democracy & Design does not offer easy answers. Instead it asks: How can democracy endure? What tools, spaces, and systems can make it accessible and resilient? Through historical reflection, speculative design, and public engagement, the project imagines an evolving democratic practice—one that must be intentionally designed if it is to remain relevant.

Anya Sirota

Sirota is an architectural designer, Associate Professor, Associate Dean of Academic Initiatives at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and founding principal of Akoaki. Her work, situated at the intersection of architecture and urban design, explores how a distinct synthesis of aesthetics, social enterprise, and cultural programming can offer contemporary and multi-disciplinary strategies for urban transformation. Her ongoing research and design efforts have received international recognition with recent projects featured at the Vitra Design Museum, the Brussels Design Museum, the Centro Pecci Prato, the Saint Etienne Design Biennale, and the Chicago Cultural Center. She is the recipient of the Architectural League Prize (2018), the ACSA Faculty Design Award (2016), the SXSW Eco Place by Design Award (2015), and the R+D Award from Architect Magazine (2013), and other honors. Sirota regularly contributes to international lectures, panels, workshops, and expositions addressing socially driven architectural practice and its impact on cities.

Sharon Haar
Sharon Haar, FAIA, NOMA, ACSA is Professor at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. Her current research investigates the development of equitable, affordable housing in the United States through Taubman College’s Collective for Equitable Housing (CEH), which she co-founded in 2021. The CEH brings together architecture, urban design, and urban planning faculty at Taubman College to promote housing equity within the state of Michigan and beyond. By leveraging faculty expertise, funding, and community-based partnerships, they pursue research questions and impact-driven projects. Continuing projects investigate the intersection of higher education and urban space, with a focus on the changing nature of the university campus, as well as the study of architectural practices devoted to social activism and humanitarian relief. Professor Haar’s books include: The City as Campus: Urbanism and Higher Education in Chicago and Schools for Cities: Urban Strategies. Her articles and book reviews appear in journals including the Journal of Architectural Education, the Journal of Planning Education and Research, the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Architect’s Newspaper, and Architectural Design, among others.

Ishan Pal Singh

Singh is a lecturer in architecture and the director of the Taubman Visualization Lab (TVLab) at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Singh’s work centers on digital visualization, hybrid spatiality, and the evolving role of media technologies in architectural education and practice. Through the TVLab, he has established new models of short-format pedagogy, integrating emerging tools like extended reality (XR), AI, and real-time rendering into courses across architecture, urban design, and urban planning. His workshops—both faculty-led and student-led—have included topics such as augmented reality, projection mapping, virtual production, and speculative visualization. He has also initiated the TVLab Research Grant, which supports faculty-led experimentation in architectural representation.

The rise of digital technology and social media has transformed the way political information is accessed and disseminated in democracies, but it has also facilitated the rapid spread of misinformation, especially in politically polarized environments. Traditional interventions, such as fact-checking and content moderation, have yielded mixed results and, in some cases, led to backlash and reinforcement of pre-existing biases. This project addresses these challenges by investigating the social and political dynamics of misinformation in democratic societies, using the case of the Philippines, a highly polarized democracy with high social media
engagement.

This study integrates social network analysis, qualitative inquiry, and lab-in-the-field experiments to examine how misinformation circulates within social networks, why individuals engage with false narratives, and how interventions can be designed to promote critical engagement with information. The research will first map information flows and identify key influencers in misinformation transmission. Then, qualitative interviews and focus groups will explore the psychological and social mechanisms driving misinformation uptake. Finally, targeted community-based interventions, such as facilitated discussions and AI-driven chatbots, will be developed and tested to assess their effectiveness in improving information evaluation and reducing misinformation-sharing behaviors.

By shifting the focus from individual fact-checking to social identity and network-based interventions, this project aims to develop scalable approaches that foster greater trust in credible information sources, mitigate the effects of misinformation, and strengthen democratic resilience. The findings will offer insights into designing misinformation interventions that are both effective and resistant to backlash in politically polarized contexts.

Cesi Cruz

Cruz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Department of Economics (by courtesy). She works on topics at the intersection of political science and economics, including elections, misinformation, gender and inclusive development. Her projects and working papers are available on her website: www.cesicruz.com.

More than four million Americans live in U.S. territories, yet their political status remains an anomaly within democratic theory. Despite longstanding dissatisfaction with territorial governance, efforts to achieve full democratic representation have stalled. This project investigates the role of institutional narratives in shaping political imagination—the perceived capacity for self governance and the belief that political change is possible—across U.S. territories. While many attribute the “decolonial deadlock” to territorial residents' uncertainty, we argue that dominant narratives, particularly those invoking fear, constrain political imagination and limit support for democratic reform.

Drawing on evidence from Puerto Rico, we analyze how institutional narratives of economic dependence, political instability, and cultural inferiority have shaped public attitudes toward self-governance. To expand this research, we will conduct archival analysis, focus groups, and a survey experiment in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, examining how dominant and alternative narratives influence political imagination and attitudes toward democratization.

By illuminating the narrative structures that sustain the territorial system, this project contributes to broader discussions on democracy, federalism, and empire. Our findings will inform scholarly debates, policy discussions, and public discourse by providing empirical insights into how narrative framing impacts democratic aspirations. In addition to producing a book and academic publications, we will engage policymakers and territorial communities through policy briefs, conferences, and public discussions. Ultimately, this research seeks to expand the democratic political imagination and explore pathways toward a more inclusive and representative governance system for U.S. territories.

Dr. Mara Cecilia Ostfeld

Dr. Ostfeld is an Associate Research Professor at the Ford School of Public Policy, a Faculty Associate at the Center for Political Studies, and the Research Director at the Center for Racial Justice at the University of Michigan. Her research sits at the intersection of political psychology and public opinion analysis, with a focus on the relationships between race, media, and political attitudes.
Dr. Ostfeld's work has been published in leading academic journals, including Social Forces, Political Behavior, Political Psychology, and Political Communication. Her research has also received support from prestigious institutions such as the National Science Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation.

As the primary investigator of the Puerto Rico Public Opinion Lab (in collaboration with Mayra Vélez Serrano and Luis Cámara Fuertes at the University of Puerto Rico), Dr. Ostfeld leads the first representative study of political attitudes in Puerto Rico. In addition to her academic roles, she serves as a political analyst for NBC and Telemundo during national elections.

Ignangeli Salinas-Muñiz

Muñiz is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Michigan and an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. She broadly studies multileve governance and subnational access to democracy through the lens of public and elite behavior. Her dissertation project, Governed Unequal, examines how ongoing power constraints in the United States territories shape representation and accountability. Her research has been supported by internal and external grants, and she has received the university’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program’s Outstanding Research Mentor Award. Her co-authored work has been published in Perspectives on Politics.