Mark Hugo Lopez

Mark Lopez is the Associate Director of the Pew Hispanic Center and a Research Professor at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy. Lopez received his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University in 1996. He specializes in labor economics, civic engagement, voting behavior, and the economics of education. Prior to joining the Pew Hispanic Center, Lopez served as Research Director at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).  Through his work at CIRCLE, he has studied young people's electoral participation, the civic engagement of immigrants, young people's views of the first amendment, and the link between college attendance and civic engagement. In other work, Lopez has studied the earnings differential between U.S. born Hispanic faculty and other faculty, the impact of bilingual education programs on long-term student achievement, estimating the returns to speaking a second language, and the neighborhood effects of immigrants on the educational achievement of natives.

Lopez joined the Pew Hispanic Center in January of 2008.  At the University of Maryland, he was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award by the School of Public Policy in 2007. He has also worked closely with the development and implementation of the School's Maryland Leadership Institute (MLI), a summer program for minority students who are interested in pursuing a degree in public policy.  Lopez also serves as the Second Vice President of the American Society of Hispanic Economists, and as a member of the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Minorities in the Economics Profession.