Dr. Meca (él, he, him) joined the faculty within the Department of Psychology at University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) in Fall 2021, after having served as an Assistant Professor at Old Dominion University since 2017. Dr. Meca received his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Florida International University (FIU) and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Public Health Science at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Dr. Meca’s research has focused on advancing the understanding of identity development, across various domains (e.g., ethnic/racial, military, and parental identity), and its associations with psychosocial functioning and engagement in health risk behavior, primarily among marginalized populations. Within the context of this program of research, Dr. Meca and TARDIS have maintained three active lines of research focused on understanding 1) acculturation and cultural identity, 2) the impact of cultural adaptation and stressors, and 3) how identity development more broadly impacts psychosocial functioning.