He is also a faculty affiliate of the Cornell Center for the Study of Inequality and Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, and a fellow of the Dornsife Center for the Mind and Society at the University of Southern California. Prior to his current position, Neil was the interim director of the Preparation Initiative Program in the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and was a fellow at the International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course. Neil is a first-generation college graduate; he earned his B.A. in economics and psychology at Cornell University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in social psychology at the University of Michigan.