Gary Orfield is a Distinguished Research Professor of Education at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and the Co-Director of the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles. He was co-founder and director of the Harvard Civil Rights Project. His research focuses on the development and implementation of social policy, with a central focus on the impact of policy on equal opportunity for success in American society. Orfield has co-authored or co-edited several books and scores of articles and reports. In addition to scholarly work, he has served as expert witness or special master in more than three dozen class action civil rights cases on school desegregation, housing discrimination, and other issues. He and various collaborators have organized amicus briefs to the Supreme Court on all the major school and affirmative action decisions over the last two decades. Orfield is a member of the National Academy of Education and has received numerous awards, including the Teachers College Medal, American Educational Research Association Social Justice Award, the American Political Science Association Charles Merriam Award, and honorary PhDs.