Professional Biography

Dr. Robert Boruch is the University Trustee Chair Professor of Education and Statistics at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to the University of Pennsylvania in 1989, Dr. Boruch was Professor of Psychology and Statistics at Northwestern University, previously holding research positions at the National Academy of Sciences, the Social Science Research Council, and the American Council on Education.

Dr. Boruch is currently a member of the advisory board of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy and the Board of Directors for the American Institutes for Research. He has served as a member of advisory groups for the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the National Science Foundation, the National Center on Educational Statistics, and other federal agencies. Dr. Boruch has also been on the Board of Trustees of the William T. Grant Foundation, the Board of Directors of the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, and the Advisory Board of the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy. He has been a member of over a dozen committees and working groups in the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Boruch is co-founder of the International Campbell Collaboration, and an award named in his honor is given each year to people who have contributed remarkably to evidence-based policy. He is a National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, and an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the American Educational Research Association, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Academy for Experimental Criminology. He has been a residential Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center as well as visiting scholar at research centers in Mannheim, Berlin, and Munich. Dr. Boruch serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Experimental Criminology.

Research Interests and Current Projects

Dr. Boruch’s work focuses on research methods and evidence for determining the severity and scope of social and educational issues, implementation of programs, and estimating the effects of interventions. He contributes to work on randomized trials in different social sectors, in developed and developing countries, and to work on data sharing and ethics.

Selected Publications

Journal Editorial Boards

Journal of Experimental Criminology
Editorial Board Member

Randomized Social Experiments eJournal
Editorial Board Member