Dan L. Ma

I am a son of Vietnamese refugees, first-generation college graduate, member of the LGBTQ+ community, former Pell Grant recipient, product of Title I schools, and empirical social scientist.

I am pursuing my Ph.D in Public Policy (Economics Track) at Harvard University starting in the Fall of 2024 as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.

From 2023-2024, I completed graduate-level economics and education coursework at Stanford University as a Stanford Graduate Fellowship and Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education Fellowship Recipient.

I was previously a Predoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School working with Professor Will Dobbie and Professor Crystal Yang on Reducing Racial Bias in Bail Decisions. 

My mission is to conduct economics research to uncover the structural barriers and institutional mechanisms that perpetuate inequities, limit economic mobility, and sustain discrimination based on race, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation. I am dedicated to generating insights that are useful to policymakers, educators, and community leaders to help inform evidence-based interventions and institutional reforms necessary for achieving equity in education, labor markets, and broader society. Dan Ma