Roland Fryer is a UTA alumnus and an award-winning Harvard economist, education activist, and a collaborator on the bestselling book Freakonomics. At Harvard, he is the Robert M. Beren professor economics. He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, founder and faculty director of the Education Innovation Laboratory, and a former junior fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows, one of academia’s most prestigious research posts.

From 2007-08, Fryer was chief equality officer at the New York City Department of Education. In this role, he developed and implemented several innovative ideas on student motivation and teacher pay-for-performance concepts. Throughout his career, he has published papers on varied racial and culture topics.

He has amassed several accolades, including the MacArthur “Genius” Grant, a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation, a Sloan Research Fellowship, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, and the Calvó-Armengol Prize.