Richard J. Murnane

Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society. Research focuses on how computer-based technological change has affected skill demands in the U.S. economy, how increases in family income inequality in the U.S. have influenced educational opportunities for children from low-income families, and the consequences of policies aimed at improving education. More than 100 peer-reviewed articles on these topics. Books include Restoring Opportunity: Building Stronger Schools and Families to Rekindle the American Dream (forthcoming 2014), Whither Opportunity: Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances (2011) Methods Matter: Improving Causal Inference in Educational and Social Science Research (2010), The New Division of Labor (2004), and Teaching the New Basic Skills (1996). He is a Fellow of the Society of Labor Economists, member of several journal editorial boards, and sits on the board of directors of the Spencer Foundation and MDRC. He served as chair of the NRC Center for Education Advisory Board, and as a member of the advisory board of the NRC Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education and of the Advisory Council on Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education.