Cherie D. Maestas, is Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science at Purdue University. Previously she served as the Marshall A. Rauch Professor of Political Science and Director of the interdisciplinary Public Policy Program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences received her PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2000.
Dr. Maestas received her PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2000. She publishes research on topics related to political communication, political psychology, risk attitudes, and legislative responsiveness. Her co-authored book Catastrophic Politics: How Extraordinary Events Redefine Perceptions of Government (Cambridge University Press 2012) examines public response to media coverage of government performance during a catastrophic event.
Her current research examines how emotions and personal characteristics (e.g. emotion regulation, personality traits, political predispositions) moderate the effects of media messages and policy framing. Her research has been funded by the Department of Defense Army Research Office, the National Science Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York and appears in journals such as the American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, American Journal of Political Science, Political Analysis, and Political Psychology. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on Political Psychology, Research Design, Introductory Statistics, Survey Research and Public Policy.
- Atkeson, Lonna Rae and Cherie D. Maestas 2012 Catastrophic Politics: How Extraordinary Events Redefine Perceptions of Government New York: Cambridge University Press
- Maestas, Cherie D. Jacqueline Chattopahdyay, Suzanne Leland, Jaclyn Piatak. 2018. "Fearing Food: The Influence of Risk Perceptions on Public Preference for Univeorm and Centralized Risk Regulation"
- Ehrlich, Sean and Cherie Maestas. 2010 “Risk, Risk Orientation and Policy Opinions: The Case of Free Trade” Political Psychology. 31(5): 657-684.
- Stone, Walter J., Sarah Fulton, Cherie Maestas, L. Sandy Maisel. 2010 “Incumbency Reconsidered: Prospects, Strategic Entry, and Incumbent Quality in U.S. House Elections.” Journal of Politics.72:178-190.
- Maestas, Cherie, Lonna Atkeson, Thomas Croom and Lisa Bryant. 2008 “Shifting the Blame: Federalism, Media and Public Assignment of Blame Following Hurricane Katrina. Publius: The Journal of Federalism. 38:4
- Maestas, Cherie and Cynthia Rugeley 2008 “Assessing the "Experience Bonus" Through Examining Strategic Entry, Candidate Quality, and Campaign Receipts in U.S. House Elections” American Journal of Political Science. 52(July):520-535.