Mark Hugo Lopez

Mark Lopez is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy, and Research Director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). Professor 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. Through his work at CIRLCE, he has studied young people's participation in the 2004 election, the civic engagement of immigrants, young people's views of the first amendment, and the link between college attendance and civic engagement. In other research work, Professor 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, the impacts of vocational education on student achievement, estimating the returns to speaking a second language, and the neighborhood effects of immigrants on the educational achievement of natives.

Professor Lopez joined the faculty at the School of Public Policy in 1995 and joined CIRCLE in 2001. He currently teaches courses in microeconomics and statistics at the University of Maryland. Recently, he was awarded the “Excellence in Teaching Award” by the School. He has also worked closely with the development and implementation of the School's Maryland Leadership Institute (MLI), a summer program for students who are interested in pursuing a degree in public policy. He currently serves as faculty co-chair of MLI. Professor 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.