Francisco Lara-Valencia is an associate professor of the School of Transborder Studies and Southwest Borderland Scholar at Arizona State University. He is also an affiliated faculty member with the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning in ASU. He received his Ph.D. in urban planning from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and did graduate and undergraduate work in Mexico. He has lectured in Mexico and the U.S. where he has taught courses on urban land use planning, urban economics, environmental planning, and research methods for planners.

Professor Lara-Valencia's major areas of inquiry include socio-environmental vulnerability, urban health, regional development, binational planning, and the role of community networks on sustainable development. His policy research focuses on issues of equity and efficiency of policy making and planning along the U.S.-Mexico border.