Dr. Rashawn Ray

Dr. Rashawn Ray is a leading authority on racial and social inequality, applying academic research to inform policy debates on education, workforce development, public safety, and community health. Ray serves as vice president and executive director of the AIR Opportunity Fund, a 10-year, $225 million initiative addressing disparities in these critical areas. In addition to his leadership at AIR, Ray is a professor at the University of Maryland and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. At the University of Maryland, he leads the Social Justice Alliance in collaboration with Bowie State University and directs the Anti-Black Racism Initiative within the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.

Ray has published more than 50 books, articles, and book chapters, along with over 50 op-eds. His books include "Systemic Racism in America: Sociological Theory, Education Inequality, and Social Change" (with Hoda Mahmoudi), "How Families Matter: Simply Complicated Intersections of Race, Gender, and Work" (with Pamela Braboy Jackson), and "Race and Ethnic Relations in the 21st Century: History, Theory, Institutions, and Policy," which is used in college courses nationwide. His academic articles have appeared in American Journal of Sociology, Science Advances, Social Science Research, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Du Bois Review, and Annual Review of Public Health. Ray’s research has received support from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Ford Foundation.

As the founding executive director of the Lab for Applied Social Science Research, Ray developed a virtual reality training program for law enforcement and led implicit bias trainings for thousands of police officers, military personnel, and employees across various sectors. He has testified before Congress on the use of virtual reality to reduce racial disparities in policing and traffic stops. Ray serves on the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Board Subcommittee on Law Enforcement and on the Governor of Maryland's task force focused on reducing bias in automated valuation models and alternative property valuation methods. He also serves on the Legacy Renovation Scholars Committee with the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and as a consultant for the 400 Years of African American History Commission.

Ray’s expertise in sociology, public policy, and criminal justice reform has made him a frequent contributor to national media. He has written for Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, POLITICO, Business Insider, Newsweek, NBC News, The Guardian, The Hill, Huffington Post, and The Conversation. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, BBC, CBS, ABC, C-Span, PBS, NPR, and Al Jazeera. Ray also served as co-editor of Contexts Magazine: Sociology for the Public, which attracted over one million website views annually. His work focuses on translating complex sociological research into accessible insights on criminal justice reform, health disparities, and wealth inequality.

Ray has received recognition from both academic and public sectors, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science Mani L. Bhaumik Award for Public Engagement with Science, the Public Understanding of Sociology Award from the American Sociological Association, the Morris Rosenberg Award for Outstanding Sociological Achievement from the DC Sociological Society, the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from Indiana University, and an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. Ray serves on boards with Meta and the Greater Washington Community Foundation, bridging social science research and real-world impact.