After completing his work at the Lazaro Cardenas High Scholl in his home town Tijuana, B. C, he moved to Mexico City and enrolled at the National Politechnique Institute (Instituto Politécnico Nacional, IPN) where he received the degree of Bachelor of Science in Geophysics in 1980. While enrolled as student and after he graduated from the IPN he worked for five years with the oil exploration company GSI of México.

In 1981 he moved to Ensenada B.C., México and enrolled at the graduate school of the Research Center and Higher Education at Ensenada (Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, CICESE) where in 1985 he earned the degree of Master of Science in Seismology/Geophysics. During his last year as graduate student at CICESE he worked as a Geophysicist for the Electric Power Commission (Comisión Federal de Electricidad, CFE) in the Geothermal field of Cerro Prieto.

From 1985 to 1993 he worked at CICESE as associate researcher in the earth sciences department doing teaching and research in geophysics/seismology.

In the Fall of 1993 he went to the University of Texas at Austin to spent his sabbatical year at the department of Civil Engineering where he became graduate student in the Spring of 1995 in the Ph.D. program and earned his Ph.D. degree in 2001.

He has lectured courses in earth sciences at undergraduate and graduate level, as well as given talks as visiting professor and as invited speaker at The University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, U.S.A., Universidad de Nuevo León, Mexico and the Universidad de Chiapas, Mexico.