Luis Carrasco's career began in Mexico City at UNAM in the 60s , and later at the University of California at Berkeley where he obtained his Ph. D. degree. During the early 1970s, he moved to Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) where he was Steve Strom's postdoctoral fellow. This collaboration resulted in a series of trend-setting research papers on the infrared properties of dark clouds. From then onwards he has applied his insights to contribute significantly in a wide range of topics including runaway OB stars, AGN variability, obscured star formation in external galaxies (e.g., M82), metallicity dependence of the optical photometry and its effect on the fundamental plane of galaxies, star formation in cluster environments, astronomical instrumentation etc. Remarkably Luis' contributions in most of these fields explained the relevance of new phenomena or established the observational framework for their interpretation. Luis returned to INAOE in the mid-70s and later moved to the Instituto de Astronomia of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (IA-UNAM) and was head of the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional at San Pedro Martir, B.C. (OAN-SPM). In the early 90s Luis moved back to INAOE where he has established a large research group. Luis is also recognized as one of the architects behind planning of the Large Millimetre Telescope (LMT/GTM), a bi-national project between Mexico and the United States of America (USA). He has been involved actively in the development and construction of the working Near-infrared cameras for the largest telescopes in Mexico. The rationale behind the conference is to honor Luis Carrasco's achievements by reviewing the modern developments in the fields of astrophysics where Luis has strongly contributed with his deep insight and views.
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