Rashawn Ray

Rashawn Ray is vice president and executive director of the AIR Opportunity Fund, a 10-year, $225M initiative focused on addressing persistent disparities in education, workforce development, public safety, and community health. The Fund partners with communities and organizations to create evidence-informed, locally driven solutions that expand opportunity and improve lives.

In addition to his leadership at AIR, Dr. Ray is a professor at the University of Maryland and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. His research explores the causes of racial and social inequities, particularly in criminal justice reform, health policy, and wealth disparities. As the founding executive director of the Lab for Applied Social Science Research (LASSR), he developed a virtual reality training program for law enforcement and led implicit bias training for thousands of police officers, military personnel, and corporate leaders.

Dr. Ray’s extensive academic contributions include three books and over 50 articles and book chapters published in top journals such as the American Journal of Sociology, Science Advances, Social Science Research, and Du Bois Review. His work has been supported by major institutions, including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Ford Foundation. Dr. Ray was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and served on the National Advisory Committee for the RWJF Health Policy Research Scholars Program. He also served as co-editor of Contexts Magazine: Sociology for the Public, which attracted over one million website views annually.

Beyond academia, Dr. Ray is a sought-after expert who regularly testifies before federal and state lawmakers, offering critical insights that inform policies on racial equity, public safety and policing, and criminal justice. He has written extensively for The Washington Post, The New York Times, and POLITICO, and is featured regularly as a trusted expert commentator on major networks such as CNN, Fox, MSNBC, BBC, CBS, and NPR. Through his media contributions and public speaking, Dr. Ray’s work continues to reach diverse audiences, shaping public discourse on some of the most pressing social challenges of our time.

His expertise extends to several high-impact advisory roles, including:

• The National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Board Subcommittee on Law Enforcement, where he advises the U.S. President on law enforcement and AI;
• The Maryland Governor’s Task Force on Bias in Property Valuation, where he focuses on reducing bias in property assessments;
• The Legacy Renovation Scholars Committee, National Civil Rights Museum, where he supports initiatives to preserve African American history and
• The Meta Global Policy Council, where he provides strategic advice on global policy issues.

Dr. Ray’s contributions to sociology and public policy have earned him numerous awards, including:

• The Andrew Carnegie Fellowship;
• The AAAS Mani L. Bhaumik Award for Public Engagement with Science;
• The Public Understanding of Sociology Award, American Sociological Association;
• The Morris Rosenberg Award for Outstanding Sociological Achievement, awarded by the D.C. Sociological Society; and
• The Outstanding Young Alumni Award, Indiana University.