Nathan P. Jones, Ph.D., is a nonresident scholar in drug policy and Mexico studies at the Baker Institute and an associate professor of security studies at Sam Houston State University in the College of Criminal Justice. His research focuses on drug violence in Mexico. Jones’ work has been published by many think tanks, including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Insight Crime.

Jones is the author of “Mexico’s Illicit Drug Networks and the State Reaction” (Georgetown University Press) and has published myriad articles in peer-reviewed academic journals, including Studies in Conflict & Terrorism; Trends in Organized Crime; Media, War, & Conflict; and the Journal of Strategic Security, for which he was recently added to the editorial board. He has been a trusted source on issues of violence in Mexico with media outlets such as the Houston Chronicle, The Texas Standard, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, and KPBS San Diego radio and television. 

While studying at the University of California, Irvine, Jones won an Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation dissertation fellowship to conduct one year of fieldwork in Mexico, which he spent in Tijuana and Mexico City assessing the resilience and illicit network structure of the Tijuana cartel. In 2013, he was awarded the Western Political Science Association Best Dissertation Award. He also received a Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies affiliate/research award and the James Danziger Excellence in Teaching Award.

Jones received his bachelor’s in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a doctorate in political science, focusing on international relations with a regional specialization in Latin America, at UC Irvine.

Contact him at nxj008@shsu.edu or (936) 294-3635.