His research focuses on the application of mathematical/computational models for public health policy, particularly in the field of tobacco control. He has conducted research on the impact of tobacco control policies on smoking prevalence and health outcomes. He has also been involved in research to evaluate policies regarding residential radon and the uptake of the human papillomavirus vaccine. He is currently engaged in a study to evaluate the impact of peer pressure on smoking uptake among teenagers using systems dynamics and agent-based models. He served on a prior committee of the National Academies assessing agent-based modeling in tobacco control. Dr. Mendez received his M.S. in applied statistics, M.S. in operations research/systems science, and Ph.D. in management science from Michigan State University.