Matthew Alemu

Matthew Alemu is a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Chicago Health Lab and an incoming assistant professor at Northeastern University (Fall 2024). He completed his B.S. in Accounting at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans in 2006. Afterward, he received his MPP from the University of Michigan in 2009. He recently completed his PhD in the joint Sociology and Public Policy program at the University of Michigan. Before beginning his doctoral studies, Alemu worked as a policy analyst at the Government Accountability Office in Washington, D.C.

Alemu’s research interests span the areas of race, culture, family, and public policy. His dissertation examines how growing up with an absent father informs young Black men’s ideologies and intentions for fatherhood and romantic relationships. His next independent research project lies at the intersection of the history of racism in the U.S. and the educational backgrounds and training of law enforcement. Alemu is also actively engaged in public scholarship on race, and his op-eds have been featured in the Detroit Free Press and Blavity.com.