I am a PhD candidate in African and African American studies at Harvard. While at Harvard I have also completed the requirements for a Master's in Government and a Master's in Statistics and expect to recieve all three degrees in spring of 2012. My research is on race and American political development and my dissertation focuses on the rise of punitive criminal justice policy in the United States since the 1960s. I am also interested in the political economy of education and the intersection of social media and politics.

Prior to enrolling in graduate school I helped co-found BlackPlanet.com, an African American-oriented social network that currently reaches about three million users a month. In 2003, I helped found a K-8 charter school in Brooklyn that currently serves about 750 students.

In support of my research, I have received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a W.E.B. Du Bois Institute Fellowship and the Aspen Institute's Henry Crown Fellowship. I received a BA from Stanford University in Race and Ethnic Relations.

In case it is helpful, Wasow rhymes with Picasso (or, if you know your African geography, Burkina Faso).