Dr. Rios is a professor, author, and former high school drop-out who seeks to uncover how to best support the lives of young people who experience poverty, stigma and social exclusion. Using his personal experience of living on the streets, dropping out of school, and being incarcerated as a juvenile--along with his research findings--he has developed interventions for marginalized students aimed at promoting personal transformation and civic engagement.

Based on over a decade of research, Dr. Rios created Project GRIT (Generating Resilience to Inspire Transformation) a human development program that works with educators to refine leadership, civic engagement and personal and academic empowerment in young people placed at-risk. His research examines how racism, inequality, and class play a role in determining if a person will be successful in education. Dr. Rios received his Ph.D. in comparative ethnic studies from the University of California, Berkeley and currently serves as Associate Dean of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.