Stephanie L. Canizales, PhD, is a researcher, author, and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and Faculty Director of the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative. Stephanie specializes in the study of international migration and immigrant integration, with particular interest in the experiences of Latin American migrants in the United States. Over the last decade, Stephanie has focused her research on the migration and coming-of-age of unaccompanied children from Central America and Mexico in the US. Stephanie’s books Sin Padres, Ni Papeles and Everyday Futures (with Brendan H. O’Connor) tell the stories of unaccompanied migrant youth in Los Angeles, California. Her on-going research focuses on the (im)mobility and well-being of Central American immigrant children and families in California and Texas.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Stephanie is the daughter of Salvadoran immigrants whose experiences growing up as unaccompanied youth in LA motivate her commitment to public scholarship. Stephanie’s research has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times, among other public outlets. She aims to impact policy through her work as a Resident Scholar with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a Research Consultant at UNICEF.