Steve Loza has conducted extensive research on Latin American music, principally that of Mexico, Cuba, and the Latino/a U.S. His various publications include Barrio Rhythm: Mexican American Music in Los Angeles, published in 1993 by the University of Illinois Press and Tito Puente and the Making of Latin America, published in 1999 by the University of Illinois Press.

In 1996-97 he taught at Kanda University of International Studies in Japan and in 1989 he taught at the University of Chile’s School of Music. He was part of a Ford Foundation program at UCLA implementing research in curriculum on multicultural arts and society in Los Angeles and edited the related anthology, Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology: Musical Aesthetics and Multiculturalism in Los Angeles. Loza is a member of the Grammy Awards National Screening Committee and formerly served as director of the Mexican Arts Series.