He obtained his Civil Engineer degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM and his MSc and PhD degrees in Structural Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed journal publications and recipient of several awards one of which is the Moisseff award from the American Society of Civil Engineering. He is a corresponding member of the Mexican Academy of Engineering. Has served as an advisor in topics related to seismic instrumentation and seismic provisions for the United States Geological Survey, California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program, the U.S. National Standard and Technology, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency and the World Bank. His research focuses on Earthquake Engineering with emphasis on Performance-Based Design.