doi.bio/andrew_j_ballard
Andrew J. Ballard
Andrew J. Ballard is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Florida State University. He previously held positions at American University, Washington, DC, including Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy, Fellow in Residence at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, and Fellow in Residence at the Data Science Center. Ballard received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Duke University in 2018 and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan in 2010.
Ballard's research focuses on American politics, specifically legislative institutions, political parties, and the interplay between legislators and the public. He has published articles in notable journals such as the American Political Science Review, The Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and Party Politics. His research questions include the influence of minority parties on legislation, the impact of party goals on legislative behaviour, and the causes and consequences of polarizing and uncivil rhetoric from legislators.
Ballard has also authored and co-authored several publications, including:
- "Bill Text and Agenda Control in the U.S. Congress" (2022) in the Journal of Politics
- "Minority Party Capacity in Congress" (2021) in the American Political Science Review, co-authored with James Curry
- "Be Careful What You Wish For: The Impacts of President Trump's Midterm Endorsements" (2021) in Legislative Studies Quarterly, co-authored with Hans Hassell and Michael Heseltine
- "Does the Gift Keep on Giving?: House Leadership PAC Donations Before and After Majority Status" (2017) in the Journal of Politics, co-authored with John H. Aldrich, Joshua Lerner, and David W. Rohde
- "Economists and Public Opinion: Expert Consensus and Economic Policy Judgments" (2016) in the Journal of Politics, co-authored with Christopher D. Johnston
In addition to his academic pursuits, Ballard has been affiliated with WWF United Kingdom.
Andrew J. Ballard
Biography
Andrew J. Ballard is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the School of Public Affairs, American University, Washington, DC. He is also a fellow in residence at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies and the Data Science Center. Ballard completed a Ph.D. in Political Science at Duke University in 2018 and holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan, which he completed in 2010.
Research
Ballard's research focuses on machine learning and AI, with a particular emphasis on their applications in the biological sciences. He has worked on improving the AlphaFold system, a deep neural network that predicts protein structures from amino acid sequences, multiple sequence alignments, and homologous proteins. The system achieved a median domain GDT_TS of 92.4, representing a significant improvement in protein structure prediction. Ballard has also contributed to research in free energy estimation, normalizing flows for atomic solids, and metacontrol for adaptive imagination-based optimization.
Publications
- Highly accurate protein structure prediction with AlphaFold
- Applying and improving AlphaFold at CASP14
- Targeted free energy estimation via learned mappings
- Normalizing flows for atomic solids
- Metacontrol for Adaptive Imagination-Based Optimization
Andrew J. Ballard
Andrew J. Ballard is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the School of Public Affairs, American University, Washington, DC. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Duke University and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan.
Affiliations
Ballard has been affiliated with WWF United Kingdom and is a Fellow in Residence at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies and the Data Science Center at American University.
Research
Ballard's research focuses on machine learning and its applications in various fields, including protein structure prediction, bioinformatics, and chemistry.
Notable Works
- AlphaFold: Ballard has contributed to the development and improvement of AlphaFold, a machine learning system for protein structure prediction. In the 14th Critical Assessment of Protein Structure Prediction (CASP14), AlphaFold achieved a median domain GDT_TS of 92.4, outperforming other methods.
- Protein Structure Prediction: Ballard has worked on applying AlphaFold at a large scale to the human proteome, achieving structural coverage for 58% of residues with a confident prediction.
- Machine Learning in Chemistry: Ballard has co-authored research on the use of machine learning techniques, such as normalizing flows and neural networks, for tasks like free energy estimation and modelling atomic solids in chemistry.
Publications
- Highly accurate protein structure prediction with AlphaFold
- Applying and improving AlphaFold at CASP14
- Targeted free energy estimation via learned mappings
- Normalizing flows for atomic solids