Edward D. Vargas,PhD MPH

Senior Analyst

Edward is a big-data policy expert who specializes in issues of race, ethnicity, health, immigration, and social policy. A nonresident Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution, Vargas supervised the 2016 and 2020 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Surveys.

Edward is also a leading expert on the methodological issues involved in the quantitative study of race and ethnicity. He was a principal investigator 2020 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (CMPS) funded by the National Science Foundation.

Edward’s research explores the effects of poverty and inequality on the quality of life, focusing specifically on health, immigration status and social policy, and how these factors contribute to the well-being of vulnerable families. Vargas has led several innovative research projects focused on multiracial samples including hard-to-reach populations. His studies of poverty, inequality, and race appear in numerous peer-reviewed journals, and his work has been cited by news outlets across the nation.

Edward received his Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs (formerly SPEA) at Indiana University and his Master’s in Public Health from the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University and a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution.