Vargas, who was a first-generation college student, received his BA in sociology and criminal Justice from Bloomsburg University, his MA in sociology from the University of Florida, and his PhD in sociology from Purdue University. Prior to teaching at UF, he was an assistant professor at the University of Texas, at Dallas (2013-2015), where he taught courses in the sociology department and was a faculty associate in the Interdisciplinary Center for U.S.-Latin American Initiatives. Vargas now co-coordinates the Latinx Studies, Migration, and Transnational Studies (LSMT) specialization in the Center for Latin American Studies MA program, organizes a UF Latinx Studies Lecture Series, co-leads a LSMT graduate research working group, and teaches a number of undergraduate and graduate courses related to race, racism, and Latinx Studies at UF. He is also a faculty affiliate with the African-American Studies program. In terms of his research, Vargas describes himself as a sociologist and a race & Latinx studies scholar. His work examines how socially constructed categories of race and religion are 1) measured in research, 2) shape social networks, and 3) act as sources of stratification, especially in higher education among US Latinxs. A current research project examines the capacity of Hispanic Serving Institutions of higher education to address and redress educational inequalities. Vargas is also researching issues related to racial con, action, and the experience whereby one's personal racial identity does not match how they are perceived racially by others.