Lakshmi Jayaram, Ph.D., is President of the Inquiry Research Group LLC and affiliated with the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida, the University of Tampa, and the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She received her doctorate in Sociology from Johns Hopkins University and specializes in qualitative and mixed methods research, with a focus on social issues, intersectional analysis, and policy-relevant studies. Her grant-funded projects span education, human services, children and families, and politics. Prior to her research career, Dr. Jayaram received her Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago and worked at The White House, the U.S. Department of Justice, and U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee as a Presidential Management Fellow.