I am the Infrastructure & Transportation Justice Director at PolicyLink, a research and action organization focused on advancing social and economic equity in the United States and its colonial possessions, and the former Research Director at the Center for a New Economy (CNE).
I also teach planning theory and economic development courses at the University of Puerto Rico’s Graduate Planning School.
Before returning to my native Puerto Rico, I was a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies, which I joined shortly after completing my doctoral studies at MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. My academic research interests focus on: transnational migration, international development, post disaster planning, and transnational ethnography.
Before joining MIT, I spent close to seven years at the CNE, and also taught geography and planning courses at the University of Puerto Rico’s Río Piedras Campus, and the Polytechnic University’s School of Architecture.
I completed a Masters in City Planning (MCP) at UC Berkeley’s Department of City and Regional Planning (DCRP) prior to joining the CNE. My Masters work looked at high-technology policy in Puerto Rico and the contemporary economic development challenges in the island. I spent my college days at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras Campus, where I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BA in economics and geography.