After a brief stint working at NYU, Engel attended Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut where he received his M.A., MPhil., and PhD in political science during the years 2005, 2006, and 2009, respectively.
[3] Upon receiving his doctorate, he was appointed as an assistant professor of political science at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
[4] During the summer of 2010, he went to New York City to work as a research scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University before concluding his professorship at Marquette in 2011.
[3] Engel's main research topics focus on the sociopolitical mobilization of the LGBTQ community, constitutional law, and political development.
[7] In Engel's third book, Fragmented Citizens: The Changing Landscape of Gay and Lesbian Lives, he discusses the increase in rights for same-sex couples in the late 2000s and early 2010s.