Dr. Aguila serves as an Assistant Professor of the History of Mexico and the American Southwest in the Department of Humanities & Arts in the School of Applied Arts and Sciences at the Polytechnic campus. He began at ASU in the Fall 2008 after teaching for eight years at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa, TX. He received his doctorate from Arizona State University. His current research focuses on the evolution of Mexican emigration public policy and Mexican-U.S. relations.

He is a former México-Norte Transnationalism fellow and has just published an article titled "Mexican Emigration Policy in the 1920s" in Diplomatic History. His current projects include completing a manuscript titled, Forjando México de afuera: Mexican/Mexican American Relations, 1876-1940 and editing a special edition of the Organization of American History Magazine of History focusing on Immigration to and from North America.

Dr. Aguila is a native of Fresno, CA and is the son of former undocumented farm workers. He earned his B.A. and Master's degrees from the University of California, Davis.