Herrera-Estrella elected Fellow of the Royal Society

Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella, the President’s Distinguished Professor of Plant Genomics and Director of the Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance (IGCAST) at Texas Tech University, has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society, one of the oldest and most distinguished organizations in global science.

The Royal Society, founded in 1660, is the oldest scientific community in existence, and its members consist of some of the most significant people in scientific history, including historical figures such as Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein. 

“It is a profound honor to be elected to such a prestigious academy, especially for work carried out largely in Mexico, where conditions for doing science are often more challenging than at top universities in Europe and the United States,” says Herrera-Estrella, a member of ASA, CSSA, and SSSA. “I hope this recognition inspires young scientists to pursue excellence and to recognize that transformative science can emerge from any place where curiosity, creativity and determination take root.”

Herrera-Estrella arrived at Texas Tech in 2019 and established IGCAST, which focuses on how plants adapt to environmental extremes such as heat, cold and drought, factors that are intensified through changes in climate.

Herrera-Estrella has been internationally recognized for his work in plant genomics and biotechnology. He was named one of Scientific American’s 100 Most Influential People in Biotechnology in 2015. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. In 2024, he was elected to the European Molecular Biology Organization.

Before joining Texas Tech, Herrera-Estrella served as director of the National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity (LANGEBIO) in Guanajuato, Mexico, where he helped build one of Latin America’s premier plant genomics research centers.

^{—Source: Texas Tech Now}