Biography

Dr. Baodong Liu is Director of Graduate Studies and Tenured Full Professor at Political Science Department of the University of Utah (joint appointment with Ethnic Studies Program).

Professor Baodong Liu’s main research fields include urban and racial politics, political behavior, voting and elections, and research methods. Dr. Liu has published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles in professional journals such as the Social Science QuarterlyAmerican Politics Research; Sociological Methods and Research; PS: Political Science and Politics; Urban Affairs Review, Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, American Review of Politics, Journal of Urban Affairs, Politics and Policies, and Political Behavior. He has also published nine scholarly books including Political Volatility in the United States: How Racial and Religious Groups Win and Lose; Solving the Mystery of the Model MinoritySocial Research: Integrating Mathematical Foundations and Modern Statistical ComputingThe Election of Barack Obama: How He Won; and Race Rules: Electoral Politics in New Orleans, 1965-2006. His books were highly recommended by professional reviews from journals such as American Review of Politics and Urban Affairs Review.

For his research on racial and electoral politics, Professor Liu has been the winners of the 1999 Byran Jackson Award from the American Political Science Association, the 1999 Ted Robinson Award from the Southwestern Political Science Association, the 2004 Artinian Award from Southern Political Science Association, the 2001 Jessie Ball duPont Summer Fellow at the National Humanities Center, and the 2007 Triss Endowed Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.  

Dr. Liu has also been the Principal Investigator for a grant provided by New America to study the effects of ranked choice voting on the 2020 Democratic primary elections. He has provided his expert opinions and/or performed empirical analyses for more than 20 federal voting rights cases including the landmark Allen v. Milligan in which Professor Liu's testimonies and reports about racially polarized voting and the effects of racial gerrymandering in Alabama were accepted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

As a methodologist Dr. Liu has written 2 R-packages for linear and generalized linear model diagnoses available on GitHub. Dr. Liu is also the founder of an online database and free web application for data visualization and statistical analyses of U.S. States, www.easystates.com

Professor Liu’s applied research/grants have included analyses of US census privacy policy, redistricting, urban economic development, racial voting patterns, public school science education, school districts' economic impact, and various citizen surveys. He has provided his expertise to the US Department of Justice, Florida and Illinois State Legislatures, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington D.C., New America, NAACP LDF, Navajo Nation, MALDEF, Native American Rights Fund, the National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation, New York City Unity-Map Project, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Wisconsin Security Research Consortium, Fond du Lac School District, Johnson Controls, Inc, City of Waupaca (WI), the League of Women Voters, American Democracy Project, Wisconsin Public Service, and many media outlets.  

Dr. Liu is currently a member of editorial board for Journal of Behavioral and Social Sciences. He was the Chair of Political Methodology Section of Southern Political Science Association in 2022-2023. As a member of editorial board for Urban Affairs Review, Professor Liu also served as the editor of Urban News for the American Political Science Association's Urban Politics Section, and was elected as a co-chair of the Asian Pacific American Caucus of the American Political Science Association from 2004 to 2006. He was elected to Board of Directors of National Association for Ethnic Studies in 2013.

At his university, Professor Liu served as associate chair of political science department, interim director of ethnic studies program, the university MLK committee chair, and a faculty senator.

 

Selected Works

  • Baodong Liu (2007). EI Extended Model and the Fear of Ecological Fallacy. Sociological Methods and Research. Vol. 36(1), 3-25. Published, 03/13/2007.
  • Baodong Liu (2023). Political Volatility in the United States. (pp. 229). Lexington Books. Published, 04/01/2023.
    https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793651280/Political-Vo...
  • Baodong Liu (2009). Church Attendance, Social Capital, and Black Voting Participation. Social Science Quarterly. Vol. 90(3), 576-92. Published, 03/10/2009.
  • Baodong Liu & James Vanderleeuw (2007). Race Rules: Electoral Politics in New Orleans, 1965-2006. Lexington Books. Published, 10/01/2007.
    https://www.amazon.com/Race-Rules-Electoral-Politi...
  • Baodong Liu (2001). Racial Context and White Interests: Beyond Black Threat and Racial Tolerance. Political Behavior. Vol. 23(2), 157-80. Published, 03/01/2001.
  • Baodong Liu (2023). Solving the Mystery of the Model Minority: The Journey of Asian Americans in America. Vol. 2. Cognella Academic Publishing. Published, 01/09/2023.
    https://titles.cognella.com/solving-the-mystery-of...
  • Liu, Baodong (2010). The Election of Barack Obama. Palgrave Macmillan. Published, 08/31/2010.
    https://www.amazon.com/Election-Barack-Obama-How-W...