Ross DeVol is a Walton Fellow, focusing on research on policies related to economic vitality of Northwest Arkansas and the American heartland. Ross is the former chief research officer at the Milken Institute, where he was responsible for overseeing research on international, national and subnational growth performance; access to capital and its role in economic growth and job creation; and health-related topics. While at the Institute, he put his group in the national limelight with groundbreaking research on innovation and its economic impact as well as the economic and human consequences of chronic disease. Ross previously served as SVP of IHS Global Insight Inc., director of economic planning at CSX, economist at Chase Econometrics and economic analyst at Union Pacific. He was ranked among the “Superstars of Think Tank Scholars” by International Economy magazine.