Prof. Herrera-Estrella is the Director of IGCAST, a Full-time Professor at the Department of Plant and Soil Science at Texas Tech University (TTU), and an Emeritus Professor at CINVESTAV in Mexico. He received his B.S. degree in Biochemical Engineering from the Instituto Poltécnico Nacional in Mexico City, his M.S. in Genetics from the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN in Mexico City, and his Ph.D. in Plant Biology from Gent University in Belgium. His research interests include determining the regulatory networks that control abiotic stress tolerance mechanisms in plants, particularly drought, desiccation, and nutrient deficiency. His research group is also interested in developing novel tissue-culture-independent plant transformation methods, as well as designing strategies to integrate epigenetic changes in plant breeding.