Mike Hoa Nguyen, PhD (he/him) is assistant professor of education at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and a faculty affiliate at the Institute for Human Development and Social Change, the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, and the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy. His research and teaching critically examine the benefits and consequences of racialized public policy instruments in expanding and/or constraining educational systems, with a specific focus on how these dynamics shape access, learning, opportunity, and success within and beyond schools for students of color.
Dr. Nguyen aims to better articulate how race-conscious federal policy can reach its potential, and fulfill its promise to address pervasive educational inequalities for underserved and underrepresented populations and regions within the United States. He is the principal investigator of the Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI) Data Project
His research has been supported by organizations such as the National Science Foundation and The Kresge Foundation, and published in several outlets including Educational Researcher, The Journal of Higher Education, The Review of Higher Education, and Scientific American.
In addition to his academic work, Dr. Nguyen has extensive professional experience in federal government, having served as a senior staff member in the United States Congress. In his nearly seven years on staff, Dr. Nguyen managed a wide-ranging portfolio and was responsible for multiple complex, long-term intergovernmental projects and initiatives focusing on postsecondary education and the judiciary. Before federal service, Dr. Nguyen was a program associate at De Anza College, where he mentored students, developed a new curriculum, and lectured.
Dr. Nguyen is deeply committed to applying his research to inform and advance public policy and institutional practice. He serves on the Board of Directors for Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC), and on several research/academic advisory boards for organizations such as UC Berkeley, College Promise, and The Asian American Foundation.
He continues to volunteer and provide research consulting for education and civil rights organizations. Most recently, he co-authored amicus curiae briefs on behalf of social scientists in SFFA v. Harvard, which was discussed during oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court and cited by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in their opinion to uphold affirmative action.