James H. Strauss is the Ethel Wilson Bowles and Robert Bowles Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology, where Ellen G. Strauss is also currently a senior research associate in biology. Both received their doctorate degrees in biochemistry from Caltech, returning in 1969 to begin a program in teaching and research in animal virology. Their research has focused on togaviruses and flaviviruses and has resulted in many original contributions to our understanding of these two families of viruses.