Kevin D. Dayaratna, PhD is an applied statistician whose work lies at the intersection of public policy, economics, and advanced statistical modeling. He serves as the Vice President of the Center for Statistical Modeling and Scientific Analysis in Policy at Advancing American Freedom, where he leads research applying rigorous quantitative methods to some of the most consequential policy debates facing the United States. Prior to joining AAF, Dr. Dayaratna served as Director of the Center for Data Analysis and Chief Statistician at The Heritage Foundation, where he built and applied high-powered quantitative models to evaluate major policy questions across energy, climate, health care, taxation, and social policy. In that role, he oversaw the development and use of a wide array of policy models, including tax, entitlement, energy, climate, and economic simulation frameworks. Dr. Dayaratna specializes in modern statistical and econometric methods—including Bayesian modeling, simulation techniques, and large-scale policy models—to assess real-world outcomes and tradeoffs. His research – published both as policy papers as well as in the peer-reviewed literature – has been recognized at the highest levels of government, including by the U.S. Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court of the United States, and has been cited by policymakers, courts, and major media outlets. He has testified at both the federal and state levels, regularly briefs lawmakers in Congress and state legislatures, and has provided policy briefings to senior officials across the executive branch, including at the White House. A central focus of Dr. Dayaratna’s work has been energy and climate policy. During the Obama administration, he identified significant flaws in federal climate modeling frameworks, contributing to increased transparency and public accountability in how these models were developed and used. His research on the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) became a centerpiece of the conservative pushback against its use in regulatory policy, emphasizing model uncertainty, embedded assumptions, and the risks of treating the SCC as a precise and policy-ready metric. This work culminated in, among other efforts, a formal public comment to the Office of Management and Budget co-signed by more than fifteen state attorneys general, which drew heavily on and extensively referenced Dr. Dayaratna’s SCC research, underscoring the national and legal significance of the issue.