Michael Vermy received his Ph.D. in Romance Linguistics and Literature from the University of California, Los Angeles in June 2008. His area of study is Spanish and French linguistics with primary specializations in sociolinguistics, language attitudes, and language in relation to identity, race and ethnicity. His secondary specializations and research areas include: Spanish in the United States, heritage/native speaker language studies, language and cultural maintenance, comparative Romance linguistics, formal Spanish linguistics and language pedagogy.