He is an architect graduated from National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and holds a degree on Conservation and Restoration of Built Heritage from the Excellence Program of the Carolina Foundation and the University of Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Previous to UT Austin, Prof. Ibarra-Sevilla was part of the faculty at the University of Minnesota's School of Architecture where he taught desing and building technlogy courses and was a Research Fellow of the Center for World Heritage Studies.