I was born in Mexico and grew up in the city of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. My father was a retired US NAVY Lt. Cdr., and my mother is a retired elementary school teacher who taught for forty years. I attended a bilingual elementary school and then a technical high school in Queretaro (ITESM Campus Queretaro). Thanks to a high school biology teacher named Gabriela Corral, I learned about biotechnology. I was captivated by viruses and bacteria and determined to study biotechnology as a major. Despite my poor guidance counselor trying to convince me to major in physics with a full scholarship at the ITESM, I took a bus several times to Mexico City to take the SAT & SAT subject tests and went to the Benjamin Franklin Library to read about college applications. I applied to several colleges & universities in the United States and attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA where I majored in Biology and Biotechnology (yes!). Dr. Jeff Tyler provided a wonderful experience and acted as a superb mentor. I learned about population-based modeling and coding. With Dr. Jose Arguello, I cloned my first bacterial gene. These two undergraduate research experiences convinced me I wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in microbial genetics. My interest in public health and... viruses took me to Emory (next to the CDC) in Atlanta. I was fortunate to join the lab of Dr. Tony Romeo, an incredible bacterial geneticist. I was also lucky to stumble upon Dr. Pat Marsteller and Dr. Arri Eisen who taught me about the joy of reformed teaching and science and society. At Duke, Dr. Pat Seed (the first author of a study I had presented as a journal club topic during graduate school) taught me about the thrill of high-throughput discovery. I was then able to combine teaching and research at North Carolina State University.