Alam is a doctoral student at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. His research focuses on fiscal federalism, state and local fiscal health, budgetary decision-making processes, fiscal policy outcomes, local government strategic interactions in financial management and budget equity. He has presented his work at notable conferences, including the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management (ABFM) and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM).
Before joining SPP, he worked as a research assistant at the Kansas Public Finance Center at Wichita State University, where he conducted applied research on local government fiscal health, revenue analysis and financial decision-making.
Alam earned a Master of Public Administration from Wichita State University, Kansas, and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He was also a 2017 participant of the Community College Initiative Program, a U.S. Department of State-sponsored cultural exchange program.