Diego Amador is the lead researcher in all of the criminal and youth justice projects at the Texas Policy Lab. He has a doctoral degree in Economics and research experience on several topics, including criminal justice, human capital formation, and sexual and reproductive health. Through research and teaching, he has developed an expertise in a wide range of quantitative methods for causal analysis, which he applies to the design and implementation of rigorous evaluations of social programs and interventions in order to help inform policymaking in Texas.

Dr. Amador received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2015. Before joining the Texas Policy Lab, Dr. Amador was an Assistant Professor in the Economics Department at Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. He is and Adjunct Professor in the Masters in Social Policy Evaluation at Rice University, where he has taught courses in Quantitative Methods and Criminal Justice.