Mark Muro is a fellow and the director of policy for the Brookings Institution’sMetropolitan Policy Program, and research director (Washington, D.C.) of the Brookings Mountain West Initiative. At Brookings, Mark manages the program’s public policy analysis and leads key policy research projects. Muro managed and co-wrote with Robert Lang the landmark study “Mountain Megas: America’s Newest Metropolitan Places.” He is also the author of “MetroPolicy: Shaping a New Federal Partnership for a Metropolitan Nation” and two major reports on the federal stimulus program: “Metro Potential in ARRA: An Early Assessment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment” and, most recently, “Implementing ARRA: Innovations in Design in Metropolitan America.” These reports represent key elements of the metro program’s Blueprint for American Prosperity initiative, an ambitious multi-year project to build long-term U.S. prosperity by revitalizing the federal relationship with metropolitan areas.

Muro is also the author of recent publications including “Reconnecting Massachusetts’ Gateway Cities: Lessons Learned and an Agenda for Renewal,” “Charting Maine’s Future: An Action Plan for Promoting Sustainable Prosperity and a Sustainable Future,” and “Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania.”

Prior to joining Brookings, Muro was a senior policy analyst at the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University. He was also a staff writer for The Boston Globe and an editorial writer for The Arizona Daily Star. Muro is a member of the Citistates Group, a network of journalists, speakers, and civic leaders focused on building competitive, equitable, and sustainable 21st century metropolitan regions. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and a master’s degree in American studies from the University of California, Berkeley.