Omar Wasow

Short bio:

Omar Wasow, 42, is a Fellow in Princeton’s Department of Politics. He is currently finishing his Ph.D. in African American studies and Government at Harvard and will join the faculty of Princeton in the fall. His research focuses on race and politics. In addition, Omar was the co-founder of BlackPlanet.com, a social network he helped grow to over three million users a month. Omar also works to demystify technology through regular TV and radio segments. In 2003, he helped found a high performing K-8 charter school in Brooklyn. He can be reached on Twitter @owasow.

One-hundred word bio:

Omar Wasow, 42, is a Fellow in Princeton’s Department of Politics. He is currently finishing his Ph.D. in African American studies and Government at Harvard and will join the faculty of Princeton in the fall. His research focuses on race and politics, particularly in relation to education and crime. In addition, Omar was the co-founder of BlackPlanet.com, a social network he helped grow to over three million users a month. Omar also works to demystify technology through regular TV and radio segments. In 2003, he helped found a K-8 charter school in Brooklyn. He is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the Aspen Institute’s Henry Crown Fellowship. He can be reached at owasow at gmail dot com.

Longer bio:

Omar Wasow, 42, is a Fellow in Princeton’s Department of Politics. He is currently finishing his Ph.D. in African American studies and Government at Harvard and will join the faculty of Princeton in the fall. In addition to his graduate work, Omar is the co-founder of BlackPlanet.com and an on-air technology analyst. Under Omar’s leadership BlackPlanet.com became the leading site for African Americans, reaching over three million people a month. Omar also works to demystify technology issues through regular TV and radio segments on shows like NBC’s Today, CNN’s American Morning and public radio’s Tavis Smiley show. Similarly, Omar tutored Oprah Winfrey in her first exploration of the Net in the 12-part series ‘Oprah Goes Online’.

In 1999, as a result of his active participation in a number of social issues, particularly the charter school movement, Omar was selected to be a fellow in the Rockefeller Foundation’s Next Generation Leadership program. In fall 2003, a K-8 charter school that Omar helped found opened in his hometown of Brooklyn. In 2007, in recognition of the promise of his academic research, the National Science Foundation selected him for a Graduate Research Fellowship. Most recently, the Aspen Institute selected him for the Henry Crown Fellowship. He received his BA in Race and Ethnic Relations from Stanford University. He can be reached on Twitter @owasow and via email at owasow at gmail dot com.

Six headshots:

Six high resolution headshots are available at in this gallery.