Ray obtained a Ph.D. in Sociology from Indiana University in 2010. From 2010-2012 he was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley/UCSF. He is the author of Race and Ethnic Relations in the 21st Century: History, Theory, Institutions, and Policy. His work has appeared in journals including the Annual Review of Public Health, Journal of Urban Health, American Education Research Journal, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. Ray has a forthcoming book, Bordering Chaos: Family and Work in a Racially-Diverse America, with Dr. Pam Jackson. Previously, Ray served on the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington Planning Committee. Ray is a frequent contributor to the New York Times and has also written for Huffington Post.