Salvador Guzmán Villegas (he/his/él) is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University. His research interests include urban communication, communication and technology, and immigration. He explores how policing and surveillance shape neighborhood and community interactions among residents, across local and social media, and among community organizations. 

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His dissertation focuses on the role of targeted immigration policing and surveillance efforts in urban and suburban neighborhoods, which shape local communication interaction across social and digital domains. This project pairs in-depth interviews with participant observations, both in-person and online, across northern New Jersey communities. The dissertation aims to contribute to an emergent program of research on the social organization of neighborhoods, network street life, and communication ecologies. 

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In other strings of research, Salvador examines how mixed-status couples and families develop localized frames of immigration risk and manage information privacy across social networks. In addition, he uses survey data to understand the role of digital inequality and social capital in system engagement for those with previous criminal justice contact. 

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Beyond his research, Salvador is a part-time lecturer in the Department of Communication at Rutgers University and in the Department of Communication, Media, and Arts at Seton Hall University. In addition, he serves as a graduate mentor in the Honors College at Rutgers University. He has held previous positions at George Mason University and the California State University, Los Angeles. ​

 

Salvador is an active member of the American Sociological Association, the American Society of Criminology, the Association of Internet Researchers, the International Communication Association, the National Communication Association, and the Society for the Study of Social Problems. 

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