Ana Cecilia de Alba González is a nonresident scholar at the Baker Institute for Public Policy Claudio X. González Center for the United States and Mexico and assistant professor of international relations at the School of Social Sciences and Government at Tecnológico de Monterrey. 

A Fulbright Scholar and Ph.D. graduate from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, de Alba studies how public institutions — particularly electoral systems and social programs — shape political behavior, inclusion, and governance. Her book project, “Beyond the Ballot: How Voter Registration Reflects State Capacity and Shapes Democracy,” explores how the administrative foundations of elections influence citizen trust and democratic outcomes across the Americas.

de Alba contributes a decade of experience, bridging academic research and real-world policy, focusing on democracy, state capacity, and development in Latin America. She has led and collaborated on projects with the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, USAID, the OAS, UNDP, and the Ford Foundation, as well as with Mexican government agencies, civil society organizations, and private foundations.

At the Baker Institute, her work will establish a deeper understanding of the interests of Mexicans in Texas and Texans in Mexico, and the role of subnational political elites and local policy dynamics in shaping cross-border democratic and development outcomes.