He earned his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Florida International University and completed a post-doctoral position at the University of Miami on a NIAAA-funded fellowship under Drs. Seth J. Schwartz and Jonathan G. Tubman. His program of research focuses on identity development and acculturation in ethnic/racial minority adolescence and emerging adulthood, as well as their respective impacts on psychosocial functioning (e.g., well-being, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, etc.) and health risk behaviors (e.g., alcohol use, risk-sex taking behavior, etc.). His most recent research has focused on the interplay between personal and cultural identity and the role that context of reception and cultural stressors have on youth outcomes.