Jordan D. Matsudaira is a professor of public administration and policy in the School of Public Affairs at American University. He co-directs the PEER Center, which generates actionable research to drive policy improvements in postsecondary access, affordability, experience, and outcomes.
Matsudaira served as deputy under secretary and chief economist at the U.S. Department of Education in the Biden Administration. He was previously an associate professor at Teachers College, Columbia University; an assistant professor of public policy and economics at Cornell University; a visiting assistant professor in the economics department at Princeton University; and a Robert Wood Johnson postdoctoral fellow in health policy research at the University of California, Berkeley. From 2013 to 2015, he served on President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers as senior, and then chief, economist.
Matsudaira earned his PhD in economics and public policy from the University of Michigan. He earned a master’s in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a BA from Union College.