Biography

Erik Lee serves as Associate Director at the North American Center for Transborder Studies (NACTS) at Arizona State University. He has extensive knowledge of U.S.-Mexico crossborder public policy in the areas of competitiveness, sustainability, security and education. As Associate Director, he is responsible for a variety of areas, including policy research and outreach with numerous partners in the United States, Mexico and Canada. He is co-editor along with Christopher Wilson of "The State of the Border Report: A Comprehensive Analysis of the U.S.-Mexico Border Region." He is currently overseeing research projects that look at various aspects of U.S.-Mexico trade, tourism and ports of entry. He has led an initiative that looks at human trafficking legislation and collaboration in the U.S. and Mexico for stakeholders such as the Border Legislative Conference, the Border Governors Conference and the Conference of Western Attorneys General. He serves on the international advisory board for the journal Latin American Policy.

From 2006-2007, Mr. Lee was program officer for the Merage Foundation for the American Dream, a foundation based in Newport Beach, California. He was assistant director at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California, San Diego from 2002-2006. Before that, Lee served as assistant managing director at the Southwest Consortium for Environmental Research and Policy at San Diego State University. He has consulted for philanthropic and educational organizations and has also served as a resource for a large number of local, national and international media outlets.

Before completing his master's degree in Latin American Studies at UCSD in 2000, Mr. Lee worked as a university administrator and instructor in Hermosillo, Sonora for two and a half years. He is fluent in Spanish and received his bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Arizona.

Selected publications:

Wilson, Christopher E. and Erik Lee. "The State of the Border Report: A Comprehensive Analysis of the U.S.-Mexico Border Region." Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2013.

Magana, Lisa and Erik Lee (eds.). Latino Politics and Arizona's Immigration Law SB 1070. New York: Springer, 2013.

Lee, Erik and Eric L. Olson. “The State of Trade, Competitiveness and Economic Well-Being in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region.” Border Research Partnership State of the Border Report Working Paper Series. August 2012. 

Lee, Erik and Christopher Wilson. “The State of Trade, Competitiveness and Economic Well-Being in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region.” Border Research Partnership State of the Border Report Working Paper Series. June 2012.

Figueroa, Alejandro, Erik Lee and Rick Van Schoik. “Realizing the Full Value of Tourism from Mexico to the United States.” North American Center for Transborder Studies and New Policy Institute, January 2012.

Figueroa, Alejandro, Erik Lee and Rick Van Schoik. “Realizing the Full Value of U.S.-Mexico Trade.” North American Center for Transborder Studies and New Policy Institute, January 2012.

Magana, Lisa and Erik Lee.  Latino Politics and International Relations: The Case of Arizona’s Immigration Law SB 1070. New York: Springer, forthcoming.

 
Lee, Erik et al. “Binational, Multi-state Survey of Human Trafficking Legislation and Collaboration.” Tempe: North American Center for Transborder Studies, forthcoming. 
 
Lee, Erik and Paul Ganster, eds. The U.S.-Mexican Border Environment: Progress and Challenges for Sustainability. San Diego: San Diego State University Press, 2012.
 
Lee, Erik. “Geography, Security and Employment: Why Canada and Mexico Matter to the U.S.” Capitol Ideas. July/August 2011, 14-15.
 
Van Schoik, D. Rick, Erik Lee, Carlos de la Parra, Isidro Morales, Sara Sonnenberg. “Achieving Sustainable Economic Development in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region via Partnership and Consultation with Key Border Stakeholder Groups,” accepted by the Puentes Consortium to be presented at symposium at Rice University in Spring 2011.
 
Lee, Erik. “The Cascading Effects of Arizona’s SB 1070. An Overview.”  Voices of Mexico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 88 (2010).
 
Coordinator and Advisor, A Shared Vision for the Arizona-Sonora Region, 2010-2015. Arizona Mexico Commission and Comisión Sonora-Arizona.
 
Lee, Erik, Carlos de la Parra, Sara Sonnenberg, and Rick Van Schoik. “Engaging the United States and Mexico in Defense, Development, and Diplomacy to Enhance our Sustainable Security at our Border.” Book chapter submitted for conference volume Border Institute X, The U.S.-Mexican Border and a Sustainable Environment in 2030. Forthcoming.
 
Lee, Erik. Rev. of Making Political Choices: Canada and the United States by Harold D. Clarke, Allan Kornberg, and Thomas J. Scotto. American Review of Canadian Studies 40:2 (2010): 311-313. 
 
“Assessing Scrap Tire Legislation in the U.S.-Mexico Border States: Phase I Report to the Council of State Governments-WEST/Border Legislative Conference.” North American Center for Transborder Studies, Arizona State University, November 2009. 
 
Contributor, Strategic Guidelines for the Competitive and Sustainable Development for the US-Mexico Transborder Region. El Colegio de la Frontera Norte and the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. September 2009.
 
Lee, Erik, Stephen Blank and Rick Van Schoik. “International Trade and Transportation.” From Here to There: Transportation Opportunities for Arizona. Background Report for 94th Arizona Town Hall. April 19-22, 2009.
 
Managing editor. “North America Next: A Report to President Obama on Building Sustainable Security and Competitiveness.” North American Center for Transborder Studies, Arizona State University, February 2009
 
Van Schoik, D. Rick and Erik Lee. “La agenda olvidada de América del Norte: retomar la senda del desarrollo.” Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica, vol. 8, no. 4, 2008. Also published as Van Schoik, D. Rick and Erik Lee “Getting Development, North America’s Forgotten Agenda, Back on Track.” CanadaWatch Special Issue: Deep Integration: North America Post-Bush, Fall 2008.
 
Van Schoik, Rick, Jessica Swartz Amezcua, Erik Lee. “Border Institute IV: Binational Water Management Planning.” Journal of Environment & Development. 11:3 (2002): 307-313.