Scott Whiteford is the Founding Director Emeritus of SBS Mexico Initiatives. He is also an emeritus professor in Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona. He previously served as the director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and as a professor of anthropology at Michigan State University and as the director of the UA Center for Latin American Studies. At both universities, the Latin American programs were designated Title VI National Resource Centers. While at Michigan State University he was awarded prestigious teaching and research honors. His research interests include international migration, violence, power, human rights, research methods, and political ecology of water. He carried out research in eight Latin American countries and the United States with funding from the National Science Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for Humanities, and Fulbright. His collaborative research has been published in journals and 14 books, published in Spanish and English. His most recent team project is being published by the University of Arizona Press in2018, The Shadow of the Wall: Violence and Migration on the U.S./Mexico Border.