Prior to beginning his Ph.D. in Public Policy at Harvard, Dan Ma completed his B.A. in Economics with a minor in Data Science at UC Berkeley as a first-generation college graduate. His research agenda seeks to uncover the structural barriers and institutional mechanisms that perpetuate inequities, limit economic mobility, and sustain discrimination based on race, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation. He is dedicated to generating insights that are useful to policymakers, educators, and community leaders to help inform evidence-based interventions and institutional reforms necessary for achieving equity.
During the summer 2026 LGBTQI+ Leadership Fellowship, Dan will be developing and piloting a survey experiment with the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination in Guyana (SASOD Guyana) to examine how different types of information shape attitudes toward LGBTQI+ inclusion.