Professor Lapinski (Ph.D. Columbia University, 2000) is an associate professor

in the department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.   He

also works in the Elections Unit at NBC News.  Previously he was an associate

professor in the Department of Political Science at Yale University.   His

primary area of research is concerned with understanding lawmaking in Congress.

He is also interested in congressional and presidential campaigns and elections

as well as American political development.  His research has appeared in the

American Journal of Political Science, Perspectives on Politics, the Journal of

Politics, and the British Journal of Politics. He is the co-editor of a volume,

The Macropolitics of Congress which Princeton University Press is publishing

(February 2006). His research has been supported by the National Science

Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, where he was a Resident Fellow for the

2004-05 academic year, the Dirksen Congressional Center, and the Institution for

Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. Professor Lapinski was co-director

with David Mayhew for the History of Congress Conference and served as

co-director of the Macropolitics of Congress Conference.