Dr. Costas Panagopoulos » School Committee Bios

Biographical Info

Wellesley School Committee (elected March 2026); Town Meeting Member, Precinct C. Dr. Costas Panagopoulos is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Northeastern University. He served as chair of the Department of Political Science for 5 years (2019-2024) and as Director of Big Data and Quantitative Initiatives (2017-2019). He is an expert in U.S. campaigns and elections, voting behavior, political psychology and political communication and has authored, coauthored or edited 12 books and over 100 peer-reviewed articles. Between 2006-2020, Professor Panagopoulos was part of the Decision Desk team at NBC News. Since the 2022 cycle, he has been on the Decision Desk at Edison Research, which conducts exit polls and analysis for the National Election Pool that includes NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN. He has served as co-chair of the Massachusetts Citizens Commission Concerning a Constitutional Amendment for Government of the People and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority. He earned his A.B. in Government magna cum laude from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in Politics from New York University. Costas can be reached at panagopoulosc@wellesleyps.org.