Dr. Aguilar is Professor in the Department of Economics and a research associate to the Water Center for Latin America and the Caribbean, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico. He holds a bachelor´s degree from Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, and a master´s and a doctorate from The London School of Economics and Political Science. Dr. Aguilar is member of Mexico´s National Research System. He has professional experience in the federal government and has undertaken consultancy work for the public sector. He has around 70 national and international publications and has participated in over 160 congresses, seminars and symposia, related to regional economic development, urbanization and water
He coordinated Tecnologico de Monterrey research chair on northern border economics, from the beginning to the end of the programme (1993-2014). In collaboration with the Houston Advanced Research Center, he served as Co-Principal Investigator in the project Water and Sustainable Development in the Binational Lower Río Grande/Río Bravo Basin, funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency and carried out under the US NSF´s STAR programme. Dr. Aguilar has won three times the Tecnológico de Monterrey award for excellence in teaching and research. He also represents the President of Tecnológico to the National Advisory Water Council and the the Interinstitutional Programme´s studies on the North America Region (PIERAN, based at the El Colegio de Mexico).