Cherie D. Maestas is the Political Science Department Head at Purdue University. She publishes on topics related to political communication, political psychology, risk attitudes, and legislative responsiveness.  Her recent co-authored book Catastrophic Politics: How Extraordinary Events Redefine Perceptions of Government (Cambridge University Press) examines public response to media coverage of government performance during a catastrophic event.  Her current research examines how emotions and personal characteristics (e.g. personality traits, political predispositions) moderate the effects of media messages and policy framing.  Her research has been funded by 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.