I was born in Mexico City. I attended the same school for primary, middle and high school: Lancaster School.  After graduation I studied Chemical Engineering at the UNAM, one of the largest Universities in Latin America.  There I had the opportunity to conduct research as an undergraduate. I studied the reaction kinetics, thermodynamic properties, and simulation and optimization of the diesel hydrodesulphurization process.  This work led me to win the first place as the best original thesis work in the ares of petroleum refining and petrochemistry.  That same year I arrived to Ithaca, New York to pursue my PhD studies at Cornell University at the  Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department under the guidance of Michael Shuler.  My thesis title was: Towards a complete minimal cell model: nucleotides, lipid, and fatty acids modules and a whole cell model parameter optimization method. I defended my work in October of 2004.  At Cornell I also had the opportunity to work as a teaching assistant, a graduate teaching specialist and an undergraduate research mentor. Additionally I was one of the founders of At What Cost? Cornell.  In January of 2005 I joined the Chemical Engineering Department at UMBC as an Assistant Professor and have been here ever since.