Adam Thomas

Adam Thomas is a Teaching Professor and serves as the Faculty Director for the Master of Public Policy (MPP) program at the McCourt School, where he has taught since 2010. He teaches courses in quantitative methods, microeconomics, and thesis development. He has twice won the Leslie Whittington Award for teaching excellence. Professor Thomas's research focuses on topics related to domestic social policy, family formation, and reproductive health. He is an editorial board member of Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, and his papers have been published in a number of leading policy and health journals, including The American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Journal of Adolescent Health, and Contraception. His research has also been cited in congressional testimony, Supreme Court briefs, and popular media outlets including The Economist, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, The Boston Globe, Rolling Stone, Congressional Quarterly, Bloomberg Businessweek, National Public Radio, and Slate. In earlier work, Thomas and a colleague at the Brookings Institution developed a proposal to extend eligibility for the federal Child Tax Credit to low-income working families. Their proposal was subsequently enacted into law as part of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University and master’s degrees in policy studies from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Sussex (UK).