Isaac A. Félix is a PhD candidate in the School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a learning scientist whose research centers on cultural-historical approaches to education, learning, and culture across the México–US border. Isaac’s current dissertation work employs multisited qualitative methods to examine the expansive forms of learning that unfold through the everyday routines and movements of transfronterizx high school youth—US citizens who live in Mexican border cities and cross the border daily to attend school in the United States—as they navigate the educational, sociopolitical, and cultural ecologies that shape their cross-border lives across the Tijuana–San Diego region. Isaac’s research interests and commitments are rooted in his own transfronterizo experiences, having been born and raised in the Tijuana–San Diego region, and crossing the border to attend public schools in South Bay San Diego. Prior to his doctoral studies, Isaac worked as an educator in after-school programs across Los Angeles and Sacramento, and interned at the California Department of Education. Isaac earned a bachelor’s degree in Human Biology and Society and Chicana/o Studies from UCLA and a Master of Arts in Education from UC Berkeley. His work has been supported by the American Educational Research Association’s Minority Dissertation Fellowship and by the Ford Foundation’s Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. He is also the recipient of the 2025 J. Michael Parker Award from the Literacy Research Association, which recognizes outstanding research on adult literacy.
