1 in 10: Redefining the Asian American Dream

Neil G. Ruiz is Pew Research Center’s Head of New Research Initiatives. In this role, he is responsible for inspiring and advancing new opportunities for organizational growth and evolution. He works closely with the Center’s president to conceptualize and drive new strategies that expand the Center’s scope and capacity to do new research and serve broader audiences. He identifies projects that amplify the Center’s mission and develops external collaborations.

Neil is also the principal investigator of the Center’s comprehensive study of Asian Americans, which received the 2023 Inclusive Voices Award from the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). He has a background in applying demographic, qualitative, and survey research methods in the U.S. and around the world. He utilizes this mixed methods approach to studying Asian Americans, other racial and ethnic groups, and immigrant populations. He is the founding chair of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Research and Affinity Group of AAPOR. He previously was an associate director for the race and ethnicity research and global migration and demography research teams.

Prior to joining the Center, Neil worked as a migration and economic development expert at the Brookings Institution, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. He was also the executive director of the Center for Law, Economics and Finance at George Washington University. He is a political economist with a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master’s degree from Oxford University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley.