2021 – 2022 Visiting Scholars
Kelsey Norman, Ph.D.
Kelsey Norman is a fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute and director of the Women’s Rights, Human Rights and Refugees Program. Her research focuses on refugee and migration issues in the Middle East and globally, as well as women’s rights, human rights, comparative political institutions and international relations. Her book, “Reluctant Reception: Refugees, Migration, and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa,” was published by Cambridge University Press in 2021. The book is based on three years of fieldwork in Egypt, Morocco and Turkey. It was selected as one of Choice’s Outstanding Titles for 2021, was awarded an honorable mention by the American Political Science Association’s Migration and Citizenship 2021 Best Book Committee, and was selected for The Washington Post’s 2022 Annual African Politics Summer Reading Spectacular. Her research has been published in numerous academic journals and she has also published policy-oriented articles in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. Her article, “Rich Countries Cannot Outsource Their Migration Dilemmas,” won the 2021 Perry World House-Foreign Affairs Emerging Scholars Policy Prize. Additionally, she is an advisory board member of the Refugees Solidarity Network in New York. She received her doctorate in political science from the University of California, Irvine, a master of public policy from the University of Toronto, and a bachelor of arts from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Hosted by: Tecnológico de Monterrey
Research Topic: Advocacy and Migration Policy in Emerging Countries of Asylum: Mexico and Morocco in Comparison
Guanhui Gao, Ph.D.
Dr. Guanhui Gao received her Ph.D. in the major of Materials Science at Rice University in May 2012, and the marine chemical engineering and technology at the Ocean University of China in July 2012. From 2021 to 2015, she worked in the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Science as an assistant professor, focusing on the synthesis of nanomaterials (2D heterostructures, noble alloys) with the applications on catalytic properties. From 2015-2019, Dr. Guanhui Gao worked as a Junior Scientist in the Paul-Drude-Institute (PDI) for Solid-State Electronics, Leibniz-Institute, Berlin, Germany. Mainly engaged in synthesis of semiconductor nanomaterials by molecular beam epitaxy approach, and the characterization of semiconductors with advanced scanning/transmission electron microscopies. Since April 2019, I came back Rice University, taking charge of one of the most advanced electron microscopy center as a Research Scientist in the department of Material Science and NanoEngineering, supervising and/or training students and researchers on operation & analysis of Titan Themis3 doublecorrected STEM techniques, conducting my own research on carbon-based 2D/3D heterostructures, and collaborating with internal and external researchers. In the past decade, I have published more than 120 papers (total citations >7066, h-index 35) including first-authored and co-authored publications in Nature Materials, Nature Communication, Advanced Materials and Nano Letters. Dr. Gao’s is capable of diverse research background on nanomaterials and expertise with the characterizations of nanomaterials (the correlation between structures and their properties) by transmission electron microscopy technology.
Hosted by: Dr. Felipe Córdova Lozano, UDLAP Escuela de Ciencias
Research Topic: Materials Science and NanoEngineering Department
Jesús Antonio López Cabrera, Ph.D.
Jesús Antonio López Cabrera is a PhD Candidate in Finance at EGADE Business School, Tec de Monterrey. His research focuses on spatial productivity analysis, employment, macro-financial topics, and financial inclusion. He authored and co-authored several papers about these topics. He has held various positions in Mexican institutions and international organizations. He has been instructor at Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México (UNAM), and Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (UJAT), in México. Currently, he is an economist at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) of the United Nations, in Mexico City. Jesús earned a bachelor’s degree in economics UNAM, and a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Texas A&M University. He received Fundación UNAM and the UNAM Economic School – Former Student Association Scholarships for his undergraduate studies and he has been recipient of the Texas-Mexico Education Scholarship, the Lamar Fleming Scholarship, and The Fund for the Development of Human Resources (FIDERH, in Spanish) Fellowship.
Hosted by: Dr. Robin Sickles
Research Topic: Convergence in Manufacturing Labor Productivity
Ruben Leal Buenfil, Ph.D.
Rubén Leal Buenfil is a Professor at Universidad de Monterrey. His research focuses mainly on antitrust law and international trade, contributing to literature related to transnational economic competition. Recently, Zhejiang Wanli University published in China his work on COVID-19 impact over economic regulations and foreign trade between China, Europe and North America. Dr. Ruben Leal has been an Erasmus+ Scholar, receiving funds from the European Union to teach as visiting professor at PanEuropean University, in Slovakia. He is the author of “Competencia económica y comercio internacional” a comprehensive book for graduate and undergraduate law students in Mexico. He was awarded first place of XXIV Tlacaelel National Prize for Economic Consulting in Mexico City. Ruben earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Tecnologico de Monterrey and a bachelor’s degree in law from Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon. He also received a master’s degree (LL.M.) in U.S. Law from Washington University and a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in Philosophy of Political Science.
Hosted by: Tecnológico de Monterrey
Research Topic: Corrupción y Practicas Anticompetitivas en las Transacciones Comerciales Entre Mexico y Estados Unidos
Ana Cristina García-Luna Romero
Ana Cristina García-Luna Romero investigates the production and perception of the public space and housing from an interdisciplinary approach to establish environmental criteria in the design and construction of the city. Professor at the University of Monterrey in the Department of Architecture where she has also been in the Chair of the Department of Interior Design. She has lived, studied and worked in the United States, Brazil, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico. Because of her interest among the field of realization of forms and space, aesthetics and product engineering, has postgraduate studies related to construction management as well as in architecture and sustainability. Currently she is working on her doctoral thesis. In her professional career has over ten years of practice where she has worked either with national and international architects and designers. Cristy combines her interest in architecture, design and urban sociology with her passion for travel around the world by offering consulting and training in different countries.
Research Topic: Care and Prevention of Emerging Health Crisis in Mexican Cities of the Border
Rogelio Leal, Ph.D.
Rogelio Leal is Programme Director and Assistant Professor of Political Science & International Relations at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. He earned a PhD in Political Science and China Studies from King’s College London and the National University of Singapore. Rogelio has spent academic sojourns at the University of Hawaii, University of Oxford, and Peking University. His research interests include contemporary Confucian hermeneutics and Chinese political thought—often linked to ethical governance, pragmatism, Critical Theory, or international affairs.
Research Topic: The China Model in Mexico: A Threat to the United States
José Manuel Cabrera Miranda, Ph.D.
José Cabrera is Associate Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is accountable for courses in association with Structures. His research interests comprise structural mechanics, risk and reliability of offshore structures in harsh environment. Furthermore, he has industrial experience in offshore field development in projects in Campeche Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. As visiting scholar, he is studying the nonlinear dynamics of marine risers subjected to vortex-induced vibrations (VIV). His work aims to the development of safe infrastructure. José holds a Ph.D. degree in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering from Pusan National University, Republic of Korea; an MSc. degree in Offshore Engineering from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands; and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Universidad La Salle, Mexico.
Research Topic: Nonlinear Dynamics of a Drilling Riser During Installation Under Sea Currents
Marilú Fernández-Haddad, Ph.D.
Marilú Fernández-Haddad holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Social Sciences from Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria with a dissertation in Social Marketing, a Master in Marketing with a concentration in Advertising from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE) Madrid, and in Communication of Public and Political Institutions from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. At a professional level, she has worked in advertising and communication agencies in Mexico and Spain, she has been an advisor and consultant in social and political marketing campaigns in Mexico and the United States. From 2002 to date, she is a full-time professor at UDLAP and was in charge of the bachelor’s degree in Marketing in the period 2010-2015 and the coordination of the master’s degree in marketing in the same period. Her research focus is in social marketing particularly in behavioral change in the public health.
Research Topic: La Ansiedad en Jóvenes Durante Emergencia Sanitaria: Factores de Influencia Para Una Intervención de Mercadeo Social
Roberto Ponce Lopez, Ph.D.
I am a professor-researcher of Urban Studies in the Graduate School of Government and Public Transformation, within the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. My research focuses on combining spatial analysis tools with machine learning and large scale datasets (e.g. Call Detailed Records, Social Media) to model urban morphology, land use, transportation and environmental interactions to build information infrastructures for supporting urban and regional planning. I also have an interest in time-geography to explore social interactions and economic segregation in the urban space. Roberto holds a Ph.D. degree from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). During his time at MIT, he was affiliated to the Urban Information Systems research group. Roberto also holds a Master of Science degree in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
Research Topic: Cartographic Platform that Shows the Entire Urban Development of the City of Monterrey and Interfaces with Visual Archives, Which Can be Located in Both Time and Space
Dina Moulioukova, Ph.D.
Dina Moulioukova holds Ph.D. in International Relations from University of Miami and Master of Law Degree LL.M. in International Trade and Business Law at the University of Arizona. Prior to her studies at the University of Arizona, as a recipient of Cambridge Overseas Trust-Clifford Chance-Punder scholarship for Russian Federation, Dr Moulioukova completed her LL.M. Degree in International Law at the University of Cambridge. Currently Dr. Moulioukova teaches courses on security at the Department of Political Science, Master of International Administration, and Department of International Studies at the University of Miami, where she as well serves as a Director of Undergraduate Studies. Dr.Moulioukova is a co-founder of Global Security Initiative that has for the last eight years hosted international interdisciplinary security symposium and round table discussions at the University of Miami. Dr. Moulioukova has also widely published on the topics of her research and co-edited four edited volumes. In addition to her academic interests, she has been engaged in a number of US Agency for International Development and Library of Congress’ projects on post-Soviet space and has served as an expert in roundtable discussions by Council on Foreign Relations and USSOUTHCOM.
Research Topic: The Role of Anti-Western Narratives in Russia’s Mexico Strategy
2020 Visiting Scholars
Jaime González Maiz Jiménez, Ph.D.
Jaime González Maiz Jiménez, Ph.D. is a Professor at the Department of Finance and Accounting at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla. He teaches courses in Finance at both undergraduate and postgraduate level in English and Spanish. He is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship Award and a member of the National System of Researchers. His research focuses mainly on Financial Markets. Contributing to the literature associated with Behavioral Finance and Market Microstructure. He is the author of: “Testing the Overreaction Hypothesis in the Mexican Stock Market” published in Revista de Contaduría y Administración of UNAM.
Hosted by: Osmar Hazes Zavaleta
Project Topic: Impact of Dual Domestic Listing on the Mexican Stock Market
Jose Ivan Rodriguez-Sanchez, Ph.D.
Jose Ivan Rodriguez-Sanchez, Ph.D., is the postdoctoral research fellow in international trade for the Baker Institute Center for the United States and Mexico. His research focuses on international trade, migration, problem of corruption, environmental economics and economic growth. Prior to joining the Baker Institute, he studied the energy and water markets of the Paso del Norte region as a research associate for the Hunt Institute at the University of Texas at El Paso. Rodriguez-Sanchez also worked as a deputy director in environmental economics at the Instituto Nacional de Ecología y Cambio Climático (INECC). He has taught economics classes and seminars at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla and Universidad Tecnológica de la Mixteca. His work has also been published in both academic and non-academic publications.
Rodriguez-Sanchez received a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science and a master’s degree in economics from the Universidad de las Américas Puebla, and master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he specialized in environmental economics, international trade and econometrics.
Hosted by: Roy Herd Nunez
Research Topic: Remittances and Their Impact in the Economy of the State of Puebla
Karla María Nava Aguirre, Ph.D.
Karla María Nava Aguirre holds a Ph.D. in Administrative Sciences from Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas (UAT) Mexico (PNPC CONACYT), a
Global MBA for Latin American Managers at Thunderbird, School of Global Management & Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), and
BA in International Studies at Universidad de Monterrey UDEM (Cum Laude award). She is also
Specialist in Mexico – United States Border Studies from El Colef, México. Dr. Nava has been working as a professor since 2000. She was director of the undergraduate International Business Program at UAT from 2005 to 2015. Since 2017 Dr. Nava is professor and researcher of International Business at UDEM Business School. She is a current member of the Academic of International Business (AIB) and chair at the Teaching & Learning in International Business track of AIB LAC annual conferences, member of the Mexican Association of International Studies (AMEI), the Academy of Administrative Sciences (ACACIA) and the Mexican Academy of Sciences (AMC). Dr. Nava has participated in projects for the Secretary of Education in Mexico, Global Partners in Education (GPE) and for international institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) recently. Dr. Nava has participated in conferences, published articles and book chapters. Member of the National System of Researchers (SNI) from CONACYT in México. Dr. Nava was accepted as a visiting scholar at Rice University in the United States this year.
Hosted by: Rice University/Jose Ivan Rodriguez
Research Topic: Influence of Interest Groups in Trade Policy. The Case of Business Alliances in Texas and Tamaulipas Region.
Angélica Camacho Aranda, Ph.D.
Angélica Camacho has a Ph.D. in Sociology from the AGH University (Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza) in the city of Krakow, Poland. She has a Master’s Degree in Literature Studies from the University of Oregon, United States, with an emphasis in Social Sciences applied to the study of narrative. She also has a Master’s Degree in Educational Innovation from Tecnológico de Monterrey and certifications in pedagogy in the United States and the Netherlands. She got a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Sciences from the Tecnológico de Monterrey, with an emphasis on Social Communication.
She has been an Erasmus Mundus Scholar in the Czech Republic where she taught some classes. She has teaching experience of over 30 years and is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Social Sciences and Government of the Tecnológico de Monterrey. Her interests are national identity, migration, interculturality, diversity, and migration. There is nothing she likes more than teaching, she really enjoys contact with students and seeing that their final projects are applied in Associations or Civil Society Organizations.
Angélica is a volunteer at the Albergue Migrantes Toribio Romo, A.C. from where she has been able to interview people in transit, and from where she collaborates with other spaces such as the Casa de la Caridad Hogar del Migrante in the city of San Luis Potosí.
Hosted by: Tony Payan
Research Topic: Data Collections and Life Stories of Central American Migrant People in the Cities of San Luis Potosi and Queretaro
Carlos E. Juárez, Ph.D.
Carlos Juárez, Ph.D., is professor of political science at the Universidad de las Americas Puebla where is coordinates the BA program in international relations. He is also professor emeritus at Hawaii Pacific University, where he taught full-time from 1997 to 2016 and served as Dean of International Studies and Department Chair of Social Sciences. Juárez’s research and teaching interests include comparative politics, U.S. foreign policy, and U.S.-Mexico relations. As a Puentes Fellow at the Baker Institute he is examining Mexico’s evolving policies toward Central American migrants and its implications for U.S.-Mexico relations.
Dr. Juárez has been a Research Fellow at UC San Diego’s Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, a visiting scholar at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, and a Fulbright Scholar to Mexico (El Colegio de San Luis), Czech Republic, Austria, and India. He served as Honorary Consul of Peru to Hawaii and the Pacific from 2007 to 2013 and in that capacity took part as a delegate to the 2011 APEC Leaders’ Summit help in Honolulu. Juárez earned a B.A. in Foreign Service from Baylor University, his M.A. in international relations from the University of San Diego, and his PhD from UCLA.
Hosted by: Rice University/Tony Payan
Project Topic: Migration Policy (Mexico-USA)
Luis Alberto García García, Ph.D.
Luis Alberto García is professor of history at Universidad de Monterrey, where he teaches Mexican, Latin American and World History. He earned his Ph.D at Southern Methodist University in 2015. His research focuses on borderlands and transnational history in Northeastern Mexico and Texas, which is a topic he explores in his first book, Guerra y Frontera: El ejército del norte entre 1855 y 1856 (2006). In 2018 he won the 17th Atanasio G. Saravia Prize in the professional research category with the manuscript “Frontera Armada: Prácticas Militares en el Noreste Histórico, Siglos XVII, XVIII y XIX.” Recently, he collaborated in the book “Border Policing. A history of enforcement and evasion in North America” (2020) with the chapter “Dominance in an Imagined Border: Santos Benavides’s and Santiago Vidaurri’s Policing of the Rio Grande.” In 2020 he was awarded as Puentes Scholar at the Baker Institute with the project “Conflict, diplomacy, and connections: The emergence of transnational security in the Texas-Northeastern Mexico Borderlands. 1850-1895 .”
Hosted by: Rice University/Tony Payan
Research Topic: Transnational Security Texas-Mexico Border
2019 Visiting Scholars
R. Guy Emerson, Ph.D.
R. Guy Emerson, Ph.D. is a Professor at the Department of International Relations and Political Science at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla. His research focuses on themes of violence and the politics of life and death beyond the ‘West’. Contributing to the literature associated with Critical Security Studies, this research works within and extends ideas associated with biopolitics, governmentality and citizen security. He is author of Necropolitics: Living Death in Mexico (Palgrave Macmillan 2019), and has recently published in International Political Sociology, Latin American Research Review, Journal of International Relations and Development, New Political Economy, Contemporary Politics, and International Studies Perspectives.
Hosted by: Rice University/Tony Payan
Research Topic: Security Governance in Global Cities: Houston and Puebla
Luis Guillermo Hernández Rojas
Luis Guillermo Hernández Rojas is a graduate of Universidad Autónoma de Occidente in Cali, Colombia where he obtained a degree in biomedical engineering. He obtained a M.Sc. degree in Automotive Engineering from Tecnologico de Monterrey, México and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Engineering Sciences from Tecnologico de Monterrey. Luis’s research investigates questions pertaining to how the brain works and its interaction with the body and the world. He is focused on the interpretation of the brain’s electrical activity through the non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) technique in order to develop novel solutions for people with motor and communication disabilities. He also has knowledge in bio-signal processing, data science, computational intelligence models, and development of biomedical applications. Luis Guillermo aims to research the decoding motor activity from EEG signals, specifically the discrimination of the multiples movements intention of the same upper limb to control Neurorehabilitation systems based on Brain Computer Interfaces.
Hosted by: Rice University/Simon Fischer-Baum
Research Topic: EEG-Based Decoding of Speech Perception in Cochlear Implants Users Using Deep Learning Algorithms
Carmelo Cattafi, Ph.D.
Carmelo Cattafi, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Tec de Monterrey as well as director of both the BA in Political Science and the BA in International Relations programs at the Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey. Dr. Cattafi holds a Ph.D. and MA in Social Sciences and a BA in Political Science with a specialization in International Politics. Dr. Cattafi is a Research Professor (SNI 1) with research experience in Italy, France, Tunisia, Luxembourg, USA, and Mexico. He is also the Technical Adviser of CENEVAL and Expert designated for the validation of exams for Political Science and Public Administration and International Relations. He has served as a thesis director, a guest lecturer in various legislative and academic venues, and has authored several books, book chapters, and journal articles. Dr. Cattafi also acts as the Coordinator of Globalization, Economic Policies and International Relations axis in the Mexican Association (AMECIP) and Latin-American Association of Political Science (ALACIP), member of the Mexican Network of International Cooperation and Development (REMECID), and co-coordinator of the Scientific Committee RC40 – New World Orders? in the International Political Science Association (IPSA).
Hosted by: Rice University
Roberto Lozano, Ph.D.
Roberto Lozano, Ph.D. is an Associate Director for Intellectual Property in the School of Law and Social Sciences at Universidad de Monterrey. R. Lozano graduated from Monterrey Tech (ITESM) and received his Ph.D. from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. From 2004-2006, he was awarded with a Master of Science degree by The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). His research interests include bio-polymers and policy reforms in intellectual property.
Hosted by: Rice University/Rafael Verduzco
Research Topic: Cellulose Unsaturated Polyester Resin: Jute-Glass Fiber Reinforced Composite
Jessica Campos Delgado, Ph.D.
Jessica Campos Delgado, Ph.D. is a professor and researcher at Universidad de las Américas Puebla, at the Chemical Biological Sciences Department. Her main research interests are the synthesis of carbon nanomaterials using the chemical vapor deposition technique as well as the preparation of composites with metal oxides, the characterization of these materials using electron microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, and their application in diverse areas (energy, biological, water remediation). She obtained her Ph.D. degree from IPICYT, Mexico on Nanosciences and Nanotechnology and performed 3 Postdoctoral stays (INMETRO, Brazil; UCL, Belgium and UASLP, Mexico) before joining UDLAP in August 2017.Hosted by: Rice University/Pulickel M. Ajayan
Research Topic: Carbon Nanomaterials and Carbon-Based Nanocomposites for Energy Storage
Nicolas Pierre Foucras, Ph.D.
Nicolas Pierre Foucras holds a PhD in Political Science from Laval University (Canada), a master’s degree in Economics of Developing Countries and International Trade from the University of Reading (United Kingdom) and a master’s degree in Economic Analysis Development Economics from the University of Toulouse (France). He is a professor-researcher at the undergraduate and postgraduate level in the Department of International Relations and Political Science at the University TEC of Monterrey in Mexico and at the School of Government and Public Transformation of Monterrey. He is a member of the CEMEX-TEC research chair, “Sustainable Development for Communities,” and of the National Institute of Public Administration (INAP). He was Director of the Faculty of Political Science of TEC de Monterrey University from 2008 to 2012. Dr. Foucras has experience as a professor-researcher at the Externado de Colombia University (Colombia, 1996-2000), Laval University (Canada, 2002-2006) and TEC University of Monterrey (Mexico, 2000-2002 and 2008 to date). He has obtained several research grants and studies from the Governments of Canada and France, European Commission, CEMEX Company, and various foundations. His area of expertise includes economic policy, international policy, sustainable development, migration, geopolitics, and governance.
Hosted by: Rice University/Tony Payan
Research Topic: Contribucion de los Inmigrantes Mexicanos en EEUU al Desarrollo de su Comunidad de Origen: Caso de los Inmigrantes de Nuevo Leon en Texas
Juan I. Gonzalez-Espinosa, Ph.D.
Juan I. Gonzalez-Espinosa, Ph.D. is a full-time professor at Universidad de Monterrey, affiliated with the Engineering Management Department from The Engineering and Technologies School. He specializes in innovation, entrepreneurship and decision-based strategy sustained in predictive analytics. He earned a PhD from EGADE Business School at Tec de Monterrey, focusing on business strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship, and completed a specialization in quantitative methods at Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University. He has been visiting scholar at Peking University (funded by Santander Universities and China Construction Bank) and at Silesian University of Technology, Poland (elected by the Erasmus Mundus Plus program). During 2012, Dr. Gonzalez developed an academic stay, awarded by the prestigious Fulbright- García Robles Program (sponsored by the US Department of State and Mexican Federal Government) at Ohio State University. His research focuses on complexity and non-traditional competitive strategy generation, such as non-traditional entrepreneurial initiatives, knowledge transference-based innovation and the use of analytics and big data for transforming organization.
Hosted by: Rice University/Tony Payan
Research Topic: Immigrants and Entrepreneurs: How Hispanic-Mexican Businessmen and Women Create Take Off, Evolve, and Transform Business, as well as Their Environments of Settlement and Origin
Daniel Prudencio
Daniel Prudencio is a graduate fellow for the Center for the United States and Mexico at the Baker Institute, and a Ph.D. student in economics at Rice University. His primary areas of interest are education economics, the economics of the family and industrial organization. He previously co-directed several field studies in the southern region of Mexico, and his research on topics related to poverty measurement has been published in several academic journals. He holds a B.A. in economics and an M.A. in applied statistics, both from Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Hosted by: ITESM, Monterrey/Rocio Garcia Diaz
Research Topic: Detecting Inefficiencies in the Allocation of Public Construction Funds Through Directly Allocated Contracts – the Case of Pavement of Streets in Mexico
2018 Visiting Scholars
Pedro Ruben Torres Estrada, Ph.D.
Pedro Ruben Torres Estrada Ph.D. is a summer 2018 Puentes Visiting Scholar at the Baker Institute Mexico Center. He is a professor in the public policy doctoral program and in the public administration and public policy master’s program at the Tecnológico de Monterrey School of Government and Public Transformation. He is also the chair of the Security and Justice Commission Advisory Board for Nuevo Leon Council. His research interests focus on constitutional law, public policies related to justice and comparative models of penal justice. He has served as manager of the implementation program for the Criminal Justice System for Mexico’s Ministry of the Interior Ministry. He previously led the project “Legacy of Security and Constitutional Law Research” at the Tecnológico de Monterrey School of Government and Public Transformation. He has served as advisor to the vice president’s office of the Mexican Senate. Torres holds a Ph.D. in European constitutional law from the University of Salamanca and Bologna.
Hosted by: Rice University/Tony Payan
Research Topic: Gang Crime Prevention in Northern Mexican States
Francisco Gonzalez Salazar, Ph.D.
Francisco Gonzalez Salazar Ph.D. is professor and researcher from the University of Monterrey, his adscription is in the Basic Sciences department from the Health Sciences Vice Rectory. He is coordinator of the class of physiology by the undergraduate health sciences students, over more he is a national researcher level 2 from the National Council Research (CONACYT). His main research lines are tuberculosis, obesity, HIV, migrant health and sexual transmitted diseases. To date he has more than 50 indexed publications, 6 books, 5-chapter books and 40 postgraduate students. Dr. Gonzalez Salazar has been an annual Puentes Scholar since 2014. For more of Dr. Francisco Gonzalez Salazar’s work click here: https://scholar.google.com.mx/scholar?hl=es&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=gonz%C3%A1lez+salazar+francisco&oq=Gonzalez+Salazar+
Hosted by: Rice University/Ferhan Majid
Research Topic: Knowledge of Zika in Border Populations
Mario A. Tello
Mario A. Tello is a Ph.D. candidate of Business Administration from EGADE Business School. He was a summer 2018 Puentes Visiting Scholar at the Jones Graduate School of Business. He is working on his dissertation “The social impact of the firm: A geographic perspective”. He is studying how firms generate impacts on their near surroundings areas. Mario is a member of the Research Group of Social Innovation at EGADE Business School. He holds a Master of Science in Quality Systems and Productivity from Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey and a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Instituto Tecnologico de Sonora.
Hosted by: Rice University/Douglas A. Schuler
Research Topic: Coorp. Social Performance
Jorge Ibarra Salazar, Ph.D.
Jorge Ibarra Salazar Ph.D. was a summer 2018 Puentes Visiting Scholar at the Baker Institute Mexico Center. He is an associate professor of the Economics Department at the Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM), and a visiting scholar of the Economics Department at the Southern Methodist University (SMU). He has a MA in Economics and a PhD in Economics from SMU, a MA in Industrial Economics from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, and a BA in Economics from ITESM. His teaching areas are microeconomics, industrial organization and uncertainty in economics. His research focuses on local public finance, urban economics, economic regulation, and models of the firm under risk. During his stay at Baker Institute he investigated the determinants of municipal fiscal revenue, and how fiscal institutions may influence the response of local governments to federal grants. He has been the Director of the Economics Department at ITESM, and was Director of Technical and Scientific Cooperation in the Mexican Federal Government during 2005-2007. He has conducted research projects and consulting to private firms, and to both federal and subnational levels of governments in Mexico. He is currently part of the Mexican Research Association (SNI) level I.
Hosted by: Rice University/Tony Payan
Research Topic: The Border Effect in Local Public Finances
Araceli Ortega Díaz, Ph.D.
Araceli Ortega Díaz, Ph.D. is a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Energy Studies through Puentes Consortium. Her current research and publications relate the trade-off between public policies to mitigate climate change and poverty coming from the CliMip research project she led for Mexico. She has been a visiting Scholar at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and Woodrow Wilson Center – Georgetown University, and Intern in UNU-WIDER, Finland. She spent her sabbatical year in the Department of Economics at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid with members of NOPOOR that looks for the best strategies to reduce poverty and inequality, where she led Mexico under European Commission FP7 framework (www.nopoor.eu). She was the first Research Director of the Government School at Tecnológico de Monterrey where she teaches microeconomics and game theory in postgraduate programs; econometrics and experimental economics to BSc in Economics. Previously she worked in the Federal Government as Chief Advisor to the Undeministry of Upper Middle Education (SEP) and Undeministry of Prospective, Planning and Evaluation of Social Programs (SEDESOL) and in the Mexican Stock Exchange (pre-MEXDER). She is S.N.I. 2, holds a PhD in Economics from Essex University, MSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from LSE, MSc in Economics from Colmex and BSc in Actuarial Science from UNAM.
Hosted by: Rice University/Ken Medlock
Research Topic: Energy Consumption Elasticities, Comparability Between Mexico-USA
Victor Reynoso, Ph.D.
Victor Reynoso, Ph.D. was a summer 2018 Puentes Visiting Scholar at the Baker Institute. He has been a full time Professor and Researcher on International Relations and Political Sciences at the Universidad de las Americas Puebla, since 2015. He hold a Ph. D. in Social Sciences by El Colegio de Mexico and is author of several publications. His most relevant titles are: Rupturas en el vértice (2016), Para entender el PAN (2014), and Calidad de las elecciones a titular del ejecutivo en el Centro y Centro occidente de México, (coordinator with Francisco Lizcano 2015). Author of more than fifty papers about Mexican politics. Published weekly in newspapers like e-consulta, Milenio Puebla and Quince Diario. He has also published in monthly reviews such as Nexos and Este País. He is currently part of the Mexican Research Association (SNI) level I. See full CV at ULDAP: https://www.udlap.mx/ofertaacademica/profesores.aspx?cveCarrera=LRI&profesor=0014406&extracto=13
Hosted by: Rice University/Mark Jones
Research Topic: Sub-National Authoritarianisms: Delegative Democracies as Deficient Democracies Authoritarianism
2016 Visiting Scholars
Phillipe Stoessle
(Universidad de Monterrey) Phillipe Stoessle worked on the detection of latent tuberculosis infection by interferon gamma release assays among border populations, United States and Mexico.
Hosted by: University of Arizona
Francisco Gonzalez Salazar, Ph.D.
Francisco Gonzalez Salazar Ph.D. is professor and researcher from the University of Monterrey, his adscription is in the Basic Sciences department from the Health Sciences Vice Rectory. He is coordinator of the class of physiology by the undergraduate health sciences students, over more he is a national researcher level 2 from the National Council Research (CONACYT). His main research lines are tuberculosis, obesity, HIV, migrant health and sexual transmitted diseases. To date he has more than 50 indexed publications, 6 books, 5-chapter books and 40 postgraduate students. Dr. Gonzalez Salazar has been an annual Puentes Scholar since 2014. For more of Dr. Francisco Gonzalez Salazar’s work click here: https://scholar.google.com.mx/scholar?hl=es&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=gonz%C3%A1lez+salazar+francisco&oq=Gonzalez+Salazar+
Hosted by: Rice University/Ferhan Majid
Research Topic: Knowledge of Zika in Border Populations
Elizabeth Salamanca, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Salamanca Ph.D. was a summer 2015 and 2016 Puentes Visiting Scholar at the Baker Institute Mexico Center and a professor at the School of Business and Economics at the University of the Americas Puebla (UDLAP). She is also a professor at Universitá Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, teaching the course “Doing Business in Emerging Markets.” Her research interests include organizational culture and migration issues. Salamanca chaired UDLAP’s Department of International Business Administration from August 2010 through June 2014. Before that she was a professor at UDLAP’s Dempartment of International Business Administration, specializing in Marketing, Latin American markets and cross-cultural management. In 2005 she obtained an award for best professor at UDLAP. Salamanca edited and co-authored the book “International Management Perspectives” and authored “Human Resources Strategies in the Restaurant Industry:Overcoming Institutional Voids in Latin American Emerging Markets.” She has a doctorate in social and economic sciences from the Johannes Kepler University-Linz in Austria; an MBA jointly conferred by the University of Deusto in Bilbao, Spain, the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Nantes in France, and the University of Bradford in England. She received her bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management from UDLAP.
Hosted by: Rice University
Juan Carlos Gachuz, Ph.D.
Juan Carlos Gachuz Ph.D. was a summer 2016 Puentes Scholar and is a full time professor at the Universidad de Las Américas Puebla. He has been awarded the Ford-Hewlett-MacArthur scholarship, the University of Essex-CONACYT scholarship and the Alfonso Caso Award (UNAM). From 2012 until 2013, he was a Rajawali Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance at Harvard University. He was director of the B.A. progran in International Relationsat the Tecnológico de Monterrey, campus Puebla and worked later as the post-graduate director at the same institution. He has been a visiting professor at the post-graduate level at the University of Monaco. He teaches international Security Issues and International Political Economy and his research interests are geopolitics and theories of Globalization. He is author or Coeditor of five book including: BRICS the New Agenda (2013), Chinese Foreign Policy and Cooperation (2014), and China-Latin America: A relationship in transition (2015). He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in International Relations from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from the University of Essex, England.
Hosted by: Rice University
2015 Visiting Scholars
Fernando A. Chinchilla, Ph.D.
Fernando A. Chinchilla, Ph.D. was a summer 2015 Puentes Visiting Scholar ar the Baker Institute Mexico Center and an associate professor at the Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM) Department of Social Sciences. Chinchilla is also a founder and director of UDEM’s Centro de Política Comparada y Estudios Internacionales; an associate member of the labratory Les Afriques dans le Monde (attached to the Université de Montréal’s Réseau francophone de recherce ur les opérations de paix; and a member of the Scientific Committee at the Pontifica Universidad Católica de Perú‘s Laboratorio de Criminología Social y Estudios sobre la Violencia. His research focuses on conflict resolution, i.e. peacemaking, peacekeeping and peace-building, democratization processes and war-to-peace transitions in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Chinchilla was a visiting scholar for the Political Studies Program at the Facultad Latinoamericade Ciencias Sociales in Ecuador between 2010 and 2012, and for the Political Science Department at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia in 2007. He has also been a post-doctoral researcher at the Universidad de Salamanca’s Instituto de Iberoamérica; a FQRSC post-doctoral fellow for the government of Quebec between 2009 and 2011; and an international Development Research Centre doctoral fellow for the government of Canada from 2004 to 2005. In 2014, he won the Universidad de Monterrey’s Research Award in social sciences. As a consultant, he has collaborated with the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights and the Organization of American States Good Offices Mission in Colombia and Ecuador. In 2009, he was an OAS short-term observer in Ecuador; in 2011, he integrated the European electoral observation mission in Nicaragua.Chinchilla received a Ph.D. in political science from the Université de Montréal.
Hosted by: Rice University
Marilu Fernandez-Haddad
Marilu Fernandez-Haddad was a summer 2015 Puentes Visiting Scholar at the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. She is an Associate Professor of the Marketing Department at the Universidad de las Americas, Puebla, Mexico. She held the chair for this department from 2010-2015. She graduated from the doctoral program in Economics and Social Sciences at Johannes Kelper University, Austria, with a dissertation in Social Marketing. She has worked developing strategies for integrated communication campaigns and for social marketing in Spain and Mexico. In accordance with her doctoral research and professional experience, she currently develops action research on social marketing to affect behavior change in Mexican communities to improve their quality of life.
Hosted by: University of Arizona
2014 Visiting Scholars
Adrian Duhalt, Ph.D.
Adrian Duhalt Ph.D. was a summer 2014 Puentes Visiting Scholar at the Baker Institute Mexico Center. He is also an associate professor at Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), where his teaching focuses on economic geography, corporate strategy and energy issues in North America. His main research at the Mexico Center is related to energy dynamics in North America (shale gas development in the United States and Mexico’s energy reform) and their effect on petrochemical value chains, agricultural productivity and food dependency in Mexico. Duhalt has spoken about energy issues at various conferences and events in the U.S., Mexico and Panama. Prior to joining UDLAP in 2013, he completed his Ph.D. in economic geography at the University of Sussex. His thesis analyzes the main political economy drivers that shaped the development of the petrochemical industry in Mexico over the last few decades. For his conceptual and empirical contributions, he received the Best Ph.D. Thesis Award from the Economic Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers in 2012.
Hosted by: Rice University
Santiago Cruz
(Universidad de Monterrey) Santiago Cruz worked on Mathematical Modeling and Computer Simulation of Hydraulic Fracture.
Hosted by: Rice University
2011-2012 Visiting Scholars
Gerardo Manuel Mejía Velázquez, Ph.D.
(Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey) Dr. Gerardo Mejía received a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering in 1980 from Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (UASLP). In 1984 he received a M.E. degree in Process Systems from ITESM and in 1992 the Ph.D. degree from the Chemical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University. From 1980 to 1991 Prof. Mejia worked for different companies in Monterrey, San Luis Potosí, and Texas. He was a professor at UASLP and ITESM Campus San Luis Potosí from 1984 to 1987.
Isidro Morales, Ph.D.
(Instituto Technólogico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey) Isidro Morales received his Ph.D. from the Paris-based Institut d’Études Politiques and has worked as a researcher at El Colegio de México and other Mexican universities. Morales has been a lecturer at the University of Copenhagen and a guest researcher at the Danish Center for Development Research, Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies and the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C.
Hosted by: Rice University
Gertie M. Agraz
(Instituto Technólogico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey) Gertie M. Agraz received a bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering in 1988 from the University of Monterrey. In 2002, she earned a Master of Science in quality and productivity systems from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) Sonora Norte campus, with the project “Definition of a Total Quality Management Model for Small and Medium Enterprises in Mexico.”
Hosted by: Rice University
Freddy Mariñez Navarro, Ph.D.
(Instituto Technólogico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey) Freddy Mariñez Navarro is director of the Graduate School in Public Administration (EGAP) at Technológico de Monterrey (ITESM). He received his Ph.D. in political sociology from Université Laval in Quebec, Canada; a master’s degree in cooperation studies from Sherbrooke University in Quebec, Canada; and a master’s degree in economy from the University of Zulia.
Hosted by: Rice University
José Carlos Lozano Rendón, Ph.D.
(Tecnológico de Monterrey) José-Carlos Lozano received his M.A. in Media Studies from Leicester University, England, and his Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Texas at Austin. He is Director of the Center for Communication Research and ITESM Chair in Media and Communication at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. A Fellow of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and of the National System of Researchers (Level 3), he is also the author of numerous chapters and journal articles in the areas of cultural and media studies, political and international communication.
Hosted by: Rice University
Ismael Aguilar Barajas, Ph.D.
(Tecnológico de Monterrey) Dr. Aguilar holds a master’s and a doctorate in economics from The London School of Economics and Political Science, and is a professor in the Economics Department at Tecnológico de Monterrey. He is member of Mexico’s National Research System. He has experience in the public sector, serving in the ministries of agriculture and water resources, of budgeting and planning, and the Mexico City government. He coordinates Tecnologico de Monterrey’s research chair on the economics of México’s northern border. He has won three times the Monterrey Tech Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research.
Hosted by: Rice University