History of Siena College Research Institute in Timeline

By Popular Timelines Editorial Team · Updated: March 19, 2026

The Siena College Research Institute (SRI) is an affiliate of Siena University, established in 1980, and located in Loudonville, New York. Founded by statistics and finance professor Doug Lonnstrom, and currently directed by Donald P. Levy, SRI is a research center associated with the university.

1980: Siena Research Institute Founding

In 1980, the Siena Research Institute (SRI) was founded at Siena University, originally located in Friars Hall. Doug Lonnstrom, a statistics and finance professor, was appointed as the founding director.

1982: SRI Presidential and First Ladies Polls

Starting in 1982, the Siena Research Institute (SRI) began polling presidential scholars to rate United States presidents and First Ladies. It expanded its polling to include America's most notable women, television's most memorable moment, and consumer confidence.

July 2013: Polling Partnership with The New York Times

In July 2013, the Siena Research Institute (SRI) and The New York Times established a polling partnership. Their first collaborative poll was conducted for the 2013 New York City mayoral election.

2016: Turnout Model Not Used in 2016 Presidential Election

In 2016, during the presidential election, the New York Times/Siena Poll did not use a turnout model for sampling.

2018: First Real Time Midterm Election Polls

In 2018, The New York Times/Siena partnership delivered the first real time Midterm Election polls.

2018: Turnout model use in sampling

In the 2018 midterm election, The New York Times/Siena Poll utilized a turnout model to prioritize calls to a "likely electorate", gauged based on trends detected in the polls, past election results, and demographic data.

2022: Lowest Statistical Error

In 2022, FiveThirtyEight's review of midterm election polling found that The New York Times/Siena partnered polls had the lowest statistical error of all pollsters measured, tied with Suffolk University.

2022: Incentivized Poll Experiment

In 2022, The New York Times conducted an incentivized poll as an experiment in partnership with Ipsos, achieving a 30% response rate while finding similar results to the lower response rate Siena partnered polls.