Estefania Castañeda Pérez's research focuses on race and ethnicity, surveillance, conceptualizations and consequences of state violence, and border politics. Her dissertation examined the normalization of violence at the U.S.-Mexico border and its impact on the livelihoods of transborder commuters from Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, and Nogales. Her research was supported by the APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, the National Science Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Castañeda Pérez has a Ph.D. in Political Science from UCLA, a Master’s degree in Political Science from UCLA, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with an honors minor in interdisciplinary studies from San Diego State University.