Dr. Aguilera earned his BS and MS degrees in Microbiology at the University of Texas at El Paso and obtained a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley (1987). Prior to returning to UTEP, he served as an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology at the University of California at Los Angeles, during which time he was a mentor of the university's Minority Biomedical Research Support and Director of the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program. His quality teaching at UCLA was recognized by his department with the conferring of the Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award. At UTEP, he increased the number of PhD students in biological sciences and he brought in major funding from National Institutes of Health programs that promote minority education and research in bioscience. These include a National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Research Initiatives for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) grant for undergraduate and graduate students and a Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) grant for faculty research at minority serving institutions. Dr. Aguilera has been the director of the Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) Scholars training program since 2003 and will continue to direct this program until 2022. The RISE program will train 25 undergraduates and 12 graduate students from underrepresented minority groups. For his long-standing commitment to student training and mentorship, he received the prestigious American Society for Microbiology William A. Hinton Research Training Award in 2010, the SACNAS Distinguished Research Mentor Award in 2013 and the SACNAS Distinguished Scientist Award in 2019. Most recently he received the 2022 EE Just Award from the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) in recognition of his contributions to science and education. He previously served as the chair of the Minority Affairs Committee of from 2010-2016. In addition, he has served on the Board of Scientific Councilor’s of the NIEHS, on the Committee of Visitors of NSF, and on several NIH grant review panels. In 2023, he was appointed to the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director’s Working Group on Diversity.
Dr. Aguilera earned his BS and MS degrees in Microbiology at the University of Texas at El Paso and obtained a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley (1987). Prior to returning to UTEP, he served as an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology at the University of California at Los Angeles, during which time he was a mentor of the university's Minority Biomedical Research Support and Director of the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program. His quality teaching at UCLA was recognized by his department with the conferring of the Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award. At UTEP, he increased the number of PhD students in biological sciences and he brought in major funding from National Institutes of Health programs that promote minority education and research in bioscience. These include a National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Research Initiatives for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) grant for undergraduate and graduate students and a Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) grant for faculty research at minority serving institutions. Dr. Aguilera has been the director of the Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) Scholars training program since 2003 and will continue to direct this program until 2022. The RISE program will train 25 undergraduates and 12 graduate students from underrepresented minority groups. For his long-standing commitment to student training and mentorship, he received the prestigious American Society for Microbiology William A. Hinton Research Training Award in 2010, the SACNAS Distinguished Research Mentor Award in 2013 and the SACNAS Distinguished Scientist Award in 2019. Most recently he received the 2022 EE Just Award from the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) in recognition of his contributions to science and education. He previously served as the chair of the Minority Affairs Committee of from 2010-2016. In addition, he has served on the Board of Scientific Councilor’s of the NIEHS, on the Committee of Visitors of NSF, and on several NIH grant review panels. In 2023, he was appointed to the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director’s Working Group on Diversity.
