He received his Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara in 2001, and joined the UC Riverside faculty in 2004 after postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and the RAND Corporation. His research explores how persistent racial gaps in educational outcomes are significantly attributable to social dynamics, such as trust and caring, within and beyond schools. His research appears in many scholarly journals and his book, Uprooting Children: Mobility, Social Capital, and Mexican American Achievement (New York: LFB Scholarly), was published in 2005 in the book series The New Americans: Recent Immigration and American Society. Before embarking on a career in research, he served as a legislative aide to former California State Senator Gary K. Hart.