Sam Wolken

I’m Sam Wolken. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in December 2025, jointly in Political Science and Communication, and a Master’s degree in Statistics from The Wharton School in 2024. I’m currently a Quantitative UX Researcher at Google Search.

I use computational tools to study the information environment. I consider how market forces shape news production and, in turn, media’s role in influencing how Americans think about and engage with politics and government. My dissertation focused on local television news: what’s on it, who watches it, and whether viewers change their consumption habits when partisan commentary shows up in their local newscasts. I also study how social scientists can integrate AI tools into their research reliably and effectively, such as generative AI for text annotation.