CV
Ramakrishnan’s CV as of July 2026
Short bio
Karthick Ramakrishnan, PhD, has served in leadership roles that span academia, government, public policy, and philanthropy. He is a research director and researcher at UC Berkeley and founder/executive director of AAPI Data, a nationally recognized publisher of demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. He is also the founder of Bolder Futures, a catalyst for intergenerational collaboration and social entrepreneurship and serves as President of the Princeton Club of Western Washington (PCWW).
Ramakrishnan previously served as Executive Director of California 100, a transformative statewide initiative focused on California’s next century, and as president of the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni. He also served for 4 years as the founding associate dean of UC Riverside’s School of Public Policy and for 19 years as a professor. He has published many articles and 7 books, including most recently, Citizenship Reimagined (Cambridge, 2020) and Framing Immigrants (Russell Sage, 2016), has written dozens of opeds and has appeared in nearly 3,000 news stories.
Ramakrishnan was named to the Frederick Douglass 200 and is currently working on projects related to bolder futures and innovative governance. He holds a BA in international relations from Brown University and a PhD in politics from Princeton University.
More information at https://karthick.com.
For scheduling and follow-up, please contact karthick.scheduling@gmail.com
Long bio
Karthick Ramakrishnan (he/him) is the executive director and founder of AAPI Data, a nationally recognized publisher of demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
A highly-accomplished scholar and political scientist, Karthick has served in leadership roles that span academia, government, public policy and philanthropy. He is also the founder of Bolder Futures, a catalyst for intergenerational collaboration and social entrepreneurship and serves as President of the Princeton Club of Western Washington (PCWW).
Ramakrishnan previously served as Executive Director of California 100, a transformative statewide initiative focused on California’s next century, and as president of the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni. He also served for 4 years as the founding associate dean of UC Riverside’s School of Public Policy and for 19 years as a professor of political science and public policy. He has also served on the Boards of The California Endowment, the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee (NAC), and The California Association of Nonprofits. Ramakrishnan also served as chair of the California Commission on APIA Affairs for 6 years, founded and led the Center for Social Innovation at UC Riverside for 6 years, and founded and led for 3 years the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, an official section journal of the American Political Science Association.
He has received many grants from varied sources such as National Science Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, California Wellness Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, and Weingart Foundation, and has provided consultation to philanthropic leaders and public officials at the federal, state, and local levels.
In addition, Ramakrishnan was founding editor of the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics (JREP), an official section journal of the American Political Science Association, director of the UC-wide program on AAPI Policy, and an Assembly appointee to the California Commission on APIA Affairs (2014-2017, 2018-2023). He has written dozens of opeds and has appeared in over 3,000 news stories, many in major news outlets such as the New York Times, Economist, Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, PBS Newshour, MSNBC, CBS Evening News, and CNN.
He was named to the Frederick Douglass 200 and is currently working on projects related to bolder futures and innovative governance. More information at https://karthick.com.