Dr. DeLeon Gray’s program of research has been recognized by receipt of prestigious honors including a 2018 Best Article Award for his collaborative publication in Educational Psychologist entitled, “Black and Belonging at School: A Case for Interpersonal, Instructional, and Institutional Opportunity Structures.” In 2015, he was featured in Black Enterprise Magazine as one of 100 men of color who are “living up to a standard of excellence and using their talents and influence in their respective industries to shift the perception of men of color to create and encourage a positive narrative.” Most recently, he received the Change Agent Award of Appreciation from St. Augustine’s University in Raleigh, NC for his exceptional work predominantly Black schools, and as named a University Faculty Scholar at NC State. Dr. Gray is the founder and CEO of Black and Belonging. He is also an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Equity in the College of Education at North Carolina State University. He was recently a Scholar-in-Residence in Michigan State University’s College of Education, and has previously held appointments at the Association for Psychological Science, the American Institutes for Research, and the National Institutes of Health. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) (B.A., Interdisciplinary Studies) and The Ohio State University (M.A., Quantitative Research, Evaluation, and Measurement; Ph.D., Educational Psychology).