Hector grew up in the Lower Valley of El Paso. As a child, he found himself surrounded by many animals both domesticated and wild. He grew particularly more interested in reptiles when he caught his first lizard. His passion to learn more about the natural world led him to major in Biology at UTEP. As an undergraduate student, he worked in a herpetology lab where he focused on the ecology of lizards. He then became interested in phylogeography, an attempt to explain the geographical distribution of animals in accordance to their relationship to each other. For his Doctoral degree at UTEP, Hector is studying the phylogeography of a montane rattlesnake using DNA and Venom. Upon completion of his Ph. D. in Biological Sciences, Hector plans on teaching at the collegiate level.