Robert Hernandez aims to educate and engage in practice-driven research to address critical areas of society that continue to hinder communities from flourishing. His areas of interest include vulnerable youth populations, adolescent social issues, adolescent gang intervention, strength-based/resiliency and youth empowerment models of practice. In particular, Hernandez's work examines risk and protective factors within communities that are associated with vulnerable youth populations residing in trauma exposed communities.

His focus is on advancing marginalized populations through a wide-range of practice approaches addressing violence-related trauma through violence reduction, prevention, intervention, diversion and reentry strategies. His area of emphasis is exploring violence related trauma due to urbanization and rapid development and its impact on healthy youth development as well as the implications on urban communities as a whole. Hernandez has a proven track record in building community coalitions and providing technical assistance and support to community-based organizations with their violence reduction, youth development, youth diversion and reentry efforts.

Hernandez was recently awarded a multimillion dollar grant by the California State Office of Youth and Community Restoration to spearhead a work force development initiative geared towards undergraduates in hopes of creating a pathway into the juvenile justice arena. This builds on Hernandez’s Social Work and Juvenile Justice Undergraduate Minor, the only juvenile justice focused academic program taught from a social work perspective.

He co-leads, with community elders, the Tri-County Collaborative whose mission is to elevate the voices of community members who have been significantly affected by community violence and trauma throughout Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego Counties. For the last decade they have held annual conferences that highlights the work that is being done by community members and organizations to curb the violence in the streets and to promote community healing.

Hernandez has held appointments for Congressional District 29’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Council, and was the academic advisor for the Gang Reduction Youth Development Department. He currently holds board positions with the California Social Work Archives and the Latino Alumni Advisory Board. In addition, he is the founder and Board Chair of Visionary Youth Los Angeles (VYLA) a non-profit organization which centers youth voices for change.

In 2023 and 2014, Hernandez was awarded the highly acclaimed Jane Adams Award at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work that is bestowed upon the instructor of the year as voted by the graduating students. In 2014, he was recognized and awarded by the Asian Pacific American Student Assembly & Academic Culture Assembly as the Most Influential Professor of Color.