Dr. Rivera earned a Bachelor's degree in Energy Engineering from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. He then completed a Master's degree in Solar Energy at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM, and doctoral studies at the University of Salford, England, in the area of heat pumps. He has been a researcher for 38 years at UNAM’s Institute of Renewable Energies. He has published more than 120 articles in indexed international journals in the field of solar cooling and heat pumps and has over 3,500 A‑type citations. He holds six patents and has supervised more than 25 master's and doctoral theses. He served as coordinator of the Graduate Program in Solar Energy from 1998 to 2003 and as coordinator of the entire Graduate Program in Engineering at UNAM from 2003 to 2007. His distinctions include serving as Mexico’s representative to the International Energy Agency in the area of solar cooling for more than 10 years, and winning first place in the National Renewable Energies Award in the Innovation category in 2006, awarded by the Secretariat of Energy for the development of a solar ice-production device. He has also been recognized for supervising five master's and doctoral theses that received first and second place as the best theses at the national level.