He has a B.S. in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. in Critical Studies from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from New York University. He is a recipient of the Smithsonian Predoctoral Fellowship, the UNLV Gaming Research Fellowship (now renamed the Eadington Fellowship), and the Peabody/Lambdin Kay Visiting Scholar Grant. He is completing a book manuscript titled Beyond the Black/White TV Screen: Asian and Latin American Spectacle in Cold War America.