Roberto Gonzales

Roberto Gonzales is the Richard Perry University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, with joint appointments in the Department of Sociology of the School of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Education. His research focuses on how immigration policy shapes the adaptation, development, and life experiences of undocumented immigrant youth in the U.S., particularly through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. His award-winning book, Lives in Limbo: Undocumented and Coming of Age in America (2016), has won eight major book awards and is widely adopted in academic institutions.

• Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the University of California at Irvine
• A.M. from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration
• B.A. in Sociology from Colorado College

His research explores themes such as citizenship and belonging, structural inequality, and the intersection of education and legal status. Gonzales' work has been published in leading journals like American Sociological Review and Current Anthropology, with a focus on longitudinal studies of undocumented youth, policy impacts on education and employment, and the social psychology of legal status. Grants from the MacArthur, Gates, and Russell Sage Foundations have supported his research. He has taught at Harvard, the University of Chicago, and the University of Washington, and has led national studies on DACA and educator responses to immigration issues.