Dr. Aguilar-Carreno (publication name Hector C. Aguilar) is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Cornell University since July, 2017. He received a B.S. degree in Biochemical Engineering from Instituto Tecnologico de Tepic, Mexico. He then immigrated to the USA and obtained a M.S. degree in Biology from the California State University, Los Angeles, and a PhD degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Southern California. He received post-doctoral training in Virology at the University of California, Los Angeles, under the mentoring of Dr. Benhur Lee. At UCLA he co-identified the cell receptors for Nipah virus (NiV) and Hendra virus (HeV) and began to establish important tools to study NiV and HeV entry into mammalian host cells. He started his own research laboratory as an Assistant Professor at the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health at Washington State University (WSU). His laboratory is known for adopting technologies previously seen as foreign to the field of Virology, including Raman Spectroscopy and Flow Virometry, to the study of viruses. His lab focuses on viral glyproteins and their roles in 1) viral entry, 2) viral assembly and budding, 3) vaccines, and 4) antiviral therapies. Dr. Aguilar-Carreno has served as the WSU Director of Graduate Studies for the Immunology and Infectious Diseases PhD program, a member of the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine Research Council, a member of the WSU Internal Governance Board for the NIH T32 post-doctoral program, a trainer of five PhD students in the WSU NIH Biotechnology doctoral training program, a member of the American Society for Virology Education Committee, a ad-hoc member of >20 NIH study sections, and a standing member of the NIH Molecular and Cellular Virology (MCV) study section, a Chair and member of the American Society of Microbiology Committee for Minority Education, a Chair of the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine Diversity Committee, and a member of the Cornell presidential postdoctoral fellowship committee. With Dr. Cindy Leifer he directs the Program for Achieving Career Excellence, which enriches the careers of URM post-docs nationwide, and junior faculty at Cornell. He is the President Elect of the American Society for Virology.