Paul Romer

Scientist

Paul Romer is the Director of the NYU-Stern Urbanization Project and President of its Charter Cities initiative. He advises governments on how to plan for the rapid expansion of existing cities and the development of entirely new ones. Romer's previous work includes a mix of theoretical and applied pursuits. He received the Recktenwald Prize in 2002 for his seminal work on the abstract theory about the role of ideas in sustaining economic growth. While teaching at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, he took an entrepreneurial detour to start Aplia, an education technology company dedicated to increasing student effort and engagement. To date, students using the Aplia software have submitted more than a billion answers to homework problems. Since selling Aplia 2007, Romer has devoted his attention to global economic development. He is also non-resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C. and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.