Before starting my current position, I earned a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, also at the University of Texas at Austin. I specialized in qualitative sociology and cultural anthropology, and my master’s thesis looked at the educational system in Nicaragua.

Before arriving here at UT-Austin, I graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a B.S. in computer science and minors in math and business administration.  After working as  web developer for a local firm, I  set out to see the world.  From 2005-2007, I served as a Peace Corps Small Business Administration Volunteer in Nicaragua where I facilitated technology labs in schools and developed websites for local government and small businesses.  After Peace Corps, I was an election observer for the Organization of American States in Guatemala’s national elections in 2007.  I returned to the U.S. shortly afterwards  and became the technology programs director at El Centro de las Americas, a Latino community center in my hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska.