Desmond Ang, associate professor of public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, has been named a 2026 Sloan Research Fellow by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation—one of the most competitive and prestigious honors available to early-career researchers in the United States and Canada.
Awarded annually since 1955, the Sloan Research Fellowship recognizes exceptional researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments mark them as the next generation of leaders. More than 1,000 researchers are nominated by their peers each year across seven fields—chemistry, computer science, Earth system science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, and physics—with winners selected by independent panels of senior scholars. To date, 59 past fellows have received Nobel Prizes, 72 have won the National Medal of Science, 17 have won the Fields Medal in mathematics, and 25 have received the John Bates Clark Medal in economics, including every winner since 2009.
Ang is an applied economist whose scholarship examines the causes and consequences of racial discrimination. His research explores the educational and civic impacts of police violence, the long-run effects of federal oversight under the Voting Rights Act, and how popular media can shape racial attitudes and behavior. His work has appeared in leading journals including the American Economic Review, the American Political Science Review, and the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Among his most notable studies, Ang’s research on D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film “The Birth of a Nation” documented a sharp increase in lynchings and Klan membership in counties where the film was screened, offering a rigorous empirical account of how popular media can fuel racial violence. Other work examines how exposure to police violence reduces students’ academic performance and civic engagement, and how community responses to high-profile incidents shape long-term trust in law enforcement.
This year’s selection of Sloan Research Fellows includes 126 outstanding scholars from 44 institutions across the U.S. and Canada. Ang is one of nine economists honored in this year’s cohort. Winners receive a two-year, $75,000 fellowship that can be used flexibly to advance their research.