Associate Professor of Linguistics and Native American Religions, specializing in language revitalization and technology for endangered Indigenous languages. As a Native linguist working with the Chatino languages of Oaxaca, Mexico, I bridge traditional scholarship with cutting-edge natural language processing to combat digital inequality facing Indigenous communities. My research addresses a critical gap: most Native languages lack technological foundations like standardized alphabets and computational models. Since 2003, I've systematically documented Chatino through audio/video recordings, developed writing systems, and created annotated corpora for Natural Language Processing research. This work reveals extraordinary linguistic beauty—Chatino expresses emotions through embodied metaphors where 'I am happy' becomes 'my essence is standing.’

Through community-engaged scholarship, I have published a Chatino Dictionary on Wiktionary and developed educational materials and children's books to help Chatino languages thrive in the digital age.