HARRISBURG — Governor Tom Wolf announced Friday that he will enlist a mathematician to evaluate redistricting maps for fairness.
The addition of Moon Duchin, who currently serves as an associate professor of mathematics at Tufts University, comes days after Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled that the congressional district map is gerrymandered and needs to be redrawn.
Duchin, who earned a master’s and doctorate in mathematics from the University of Chicago, has extensive research relating to metric geometry of groups and surfaces. She is also one of the leaders of the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group, a project that focuses on mathematical attention on issues of electoral redistricting, the official release says.
“Moon Duchin has been a leader in applying mathematics, geometry, and analytics to evaluate redistricted maps and work to eliminate extreme partisan gerrymandering,” Gov. Wolf said. “The people of Pennsylvania are tired of partisan games and gridlock — made worse by gerrymandering — and it is my mission to reverse the black-eye of having some of the worst gerrymandering in the country. I am open and willing to work with the General Assembly but I will not accept an unfair map and enlisting a non-partisan expert is essential to ensure that is possible.”
Duchin attained her undergraduate degree of mathematics from Harvard.
