 Prior to 2006, he was the Associate Director of Science at the US National Optical Astronomy Observatory, and Astronomer at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.In 2007, he was elected Councilor of the American Astronomical Society, and in 2010, he was elected Vice President of the same society.He has been awarded a 2010 Jefferson Senior Science Fellowship of the National Academy of Sciences to work at the US Department of State where he is a Humanitarian Affairs Officer in the Bureau of Human Rights of the Office of International Organization Affairs.