Eduardo Yespica Mendoza is a PhD student at The University of Texas Steve Hicks School of Social Work. He earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in International Relations from Florida International University and a Master’s of Social Work from Boston College School of Social Work. During his master’s degree Eduardo completed a certificate in Management and specialized in international social work and social work practice with Latinx populations. Eduardo’ research focus is culturally adapted socio-emotional interventions for Latinx and immigrant youth.
Eduardo’s research interest is based in over 13 years of experience working with Latinx and immigrant youth in the United States and Latin America in Spanish and English. Throughout his career Eduardo has provided direct services, overseen the family reunification program for unaccompanied minors, and conducted research of Latinx populations, providing him experience at the micro, mezzo and macro levels of social work. While he worked at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Eduardo oversaw 50 sites at the national level in the operation, training and building the capacities necessary to serve Latinx refugees. In addition to his program management experience, Eduardo has over 6 years of experience providing direct services to Latinx youth, immigrants and refugees as a volunteer in his local community and in a shelter for unaccompanied minors.
Eduardo also has over 3 years of experience conducting qualitative research and in the design of research studies. He worked as a research assistant in Boston College were he helped design and implement research instruments for data collection, recruited research participants, conducted qualitative data collection through interviews in Spanish, coded data collected, lead a research team in the production of a manuscript and presented at the American Public Health Association conference in 2022.
With this level of experience and expertise, Eduardo joins The University of Texas Steve Hicks School of Social Work, where he works with his primary mentor Dr. Carmen Valdez conducting qualitative research with Latinx youth.