Lei Gao

Dr. Gao is an assistant professor of finance at Iowa State University, where he teaches courses on investments, and security analysis and portfolio management. Dr. Gao earned a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Georgia, an M.S. from Michigan State University, and a B.S. from Peking University. His research has been published at top journals such as the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences of USA (PNAS), Journal of Financial Economics (JFE), Journal of Corporate Finance (JCF) among others. Dr. Gao's research has been featured at news media, including NBC, Washington Post, Bloomberg, CNN, and academic press, including Harvard Law School, Oxford Business Law OBLB, ASSA, etc. His publication at PNAS about Fair Lending is ranked by Financial Times as #15 in "Top 100 Business School Research with Social Impact". Dr. Gao has given a speech at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) about fair lending. He has also been invited to be an expert witness before the U.S. Congress and his research has been the base for the testimony. His publication at JFE about "Market Intraday Momentum" is one of the most downloaded papers at SSRN compared to outputs of the same age. His research about short selling regulation at JCF has been featured in Cato Institute Research Brief.

Dr. Gao is also a Financial Economist at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he provides economics analysis and memos to support the Commission's enforcement and regulation, Protecting investors; maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets; facilitating capital formation.