He has also been a visiting professor at MIT and Tehran University's Faculty of World Studies. His academic work has focused on Mexican and Latin@ culture in the first half of the 20th century. What began as research on the state-sponsored nationalist culture of the Mexican Revolution – focusing on the life and work of the first post revolutionary Minister of Education, José Vasconcelos - has turned into a greater interest into other forces that interacted in the development of the cultures of modern Mexico: processes of globalization, migration, and the growth of mass communications. He is currently exploring ways in which to communicate and learn through the new social media. He is a contributor to Latino Rebels and nicholasbelardes.com; his first personal blog is http://blogs.umass.edu/marentes/ and he tweets @marentesluis.