Jonathan Cervas

Assistant Teaching Professor, Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology

Bio

Jonathan Cervas is an assistant teaching professor at Carnegie Mellon University, specializing in American political institutions and inequalities in voting. He teaches Advanced Topics in American Politics, Representation and Voting Rights, and the American Politics Graduate Seminar. 

He arrived at CMU in 2020 after receiving his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine. His 2020 doctoral dissertation is titled “A Quantitative Assessment of the Electoral College, 1790-2020.” His research is focused on inequalities in American political institutions and how they result in vote dilution and disparities among voters.

His dedication to promoting fair representation is demonstrated in his involvement in significant cases, such as Navajo Nation v. San Juan County, Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Board of Elections, and Wright v. Sumter County, which has contributed to expanding opportunities for minority representation in electoral systems. He served as redistricting consultant to the Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission in 2021. In 2022, he was appointed by the New York State Supreme Court as Special Master to redraw the State Senate and Congressional districts. Most recently, he was appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court as a consultant in a legislative redistricting lawsuit. Cervas was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada.