Noel Maurer is a professor of International Affairs and International Business at George Washington University. Maurer earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1997. He has been featured on History Channel, NPR, several news outlets and more.

Between 1998 and 2002 he worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at ITAM in Mexico City. After a brief stint on active duty in the U.S. Army, he began work as an assistant professor at the Harvard Business School in 2004. In 2015, he moved to George Washington University.

His fourth book, The Big Ditch: How America Took, Built, Ran, and Ultimately Gave Away the Panama Canal has become one of the primary histories of the Canal. His latest book, The Empire Trap, examines the causes and legacy of American intervention in Latin America.