Rashawn Ray is Vice President and Executive Director of the AIR Equity Initiative at the American Institutes for Research, Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution. He is also the founding executive director of the Lab for Applied Social Science Research (LASSR). Ray's research addresses the mechanisms that manufacture and maintain racial and social inequality, with a particular focus on policing, health, and family policy. He has published over 50 books, articles, and book chapters and over 50 op-eds. His books include Systemic Racism in America, How Families Matter, and Race and Ethnic Relations in the 21st Century. Ray regularly testifies at the federal and state levels on racial equity, policing and criminal justice reform, health policy, wealth, and family policy, and he has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, BBC, PBS, and NPR. He is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and has received the American Association for the Advancement of Science Mani L. Bhaumik Award for Public Engagement with Science and the American Sociological Association's Public Understanding of Sociology Award.