His research focuses on race and politics. His co-authored work on the challenge of estimating effects of race was published in the Annual Review of Political Science. His research on the political consequences of nonviolent and violent protests has been featured in The Washington Post, The New Yorker and The Atlantic. Before joining the academy, Omar served as a regular on-air technology analyst and was the co-founder of BlackPlanet.com, a social network he helped grow to over three million active users. In 2003, he helped found a high performing 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 received a PhD in African American studies, an MA in Government and an MA in Statistics from Harvard University. He can be reached on Twitter @owasow or owasow-at-gmail-dot-com.