Rebecca Morales Ph.D.

Rebecca Morales, PhD, obtained a B. Architecture from UC Berkeley, an MA in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA, and a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from MIT. She taught at UCLA, the Claremont Graduate School, and the University of Illinois at Chicago where she focused on industrial change, economic development, and income inequality in the United States, and on international development and Latin American Studies.

Rebecca’s research, funded by the International Labor Organization and the National Science Foundation, led her to design the National Center for Industrial Innovation for the Mexican Sub-Secretariate for Trade and Industry. She was also a guest scientist at the Wissenschaft Zentrum in Berlin, Germany, and the United National Economic Commission on Latin America in Santiago, Chile.

Her academic publications include the following books: Stealing Cars – Technology and Society from the Model T to the Gran Torino; Borderless Borders – U.S. Latinos, Latin Americans, and the Paradox of Interdependence; Flexible Production – Restructuring of the International Automobile Industry; and Latinos in a Changing U.S. Economy – Comparative Perspectives on Growing Inequality.

In addition to her academic work, she developed an exhibit for the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry on the Los Angeles Automobile Industry and co- curated an exhibit for the La Jolla Historical Society titled In Plain Sight – Mexicano/Chicano Stories in San Diego. Among her non-academic publications is Pacific Rim Park – The Transformative Power of Art with artist James Hubbell.