He is also a professor of political science at the Instituto de Ciencias Sociales of the Universidad Diego Portales and the director of the Observatorio Electoral at the same school. Before obtaining his Ph.D. (May 2003), he was a graduate student in the Department of Politics at New York University. Previously (April 1995-August 1997), he served as Assistant Director of Student Development Services at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 1992, he graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology and obtained a Master of Arts in Political Science at the University of Chicago in 1994.