Roberto Álvarez is a Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor in Latin American Studies in the Department of Anthropology, where he is teaching, Re-conceptualizing the US-Mexico Border: Comparative and Global Perspectives. His research focuses on the US-Mexican Border, immigrant adaptation and questions about the expansion of the U.S. nation state and its threat to the sovereignty of Latin American nations. Alvarez examines global and transnational commerce, trade in Mexico, and the social organization of ethnic entrepreneurs.
 
Dr. Alvarez helped found the Association of Latino and Latina Anthropologists in the American Anthropological Association and has served as its president and chair of the nominations committee. He is on the board of directors of the Society for Applied Anthropology, the executive committees of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, and the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) where he is a professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies.