Robert L. McKenzie is an American domestic and foreign policy analyst, public commentator, and scholar of the Middle East and North Africa.

An anthropologist by training, his current work largely focuses on forced migration, displaced persons, refugees, and diaspora-related issues.

[4] At Michigan State University, and after multiple unsuccessful attempts, McKenzie walked-on to the varsity basketball team coached by Tom Izzo.

[9] In his latest book project, McKenzie explores large-scale displacement and protracted refugee situations in the Middle East and North Africa.

McKenzie is also the principal investigator for an interactive project cataloguing anti-Muslim activities at the state and local level in America.

The incidents, sorted into six categories, are compiled in an interactive graph and in maps showing their geographic distribution in absolute numbers as well as per capita.

At the Brookings Institution, McKenzie's research and writing centered on the Syrian refugee crisis and Muslim communities in the West.