Dr. Rubén Marcelo Castillo Álvarez holds a Bachelor's degree in Human Settlement Design and a Master of Science and Arts in Design specializing in Territorial Research and Management from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Xochimilco, alongside a Ph.D. in Geography from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). He began his professional career in 1998 as an analyst, consultant, and researcher in urban, tourism, and regional development programs across various Mexican states, municipalities, and metropolitan areas.

In public administration, he served as Coordinator of the Geographic Information System for Land Use (SIG-SEDUVI) at Mexico City's Secretariat of Urban Development and Housing (2003) and Technical Subdirector at the Municipal Planning Institute of Tijuana, Baja California (2005–2006). His research lines encompass urban design, urbanization processes, and labor mobility, currently developing an algorithm-based project to identify asbestos roofs in Mexico City housing.

He serves as an Associate Professor D across the Interdivisional Core, the Divisional Core in Design, the Bachelor's Program in Territorial Planning, and the Master's Program in Science and Arts for Design within the CyAD Division at UAM Xochimilco, where he coordinates Modules I and II Design Workshops. His technical toolkit includes Geographic Information Systems such as QGIS, ArcGIS, GeoDa, R Statistics, and INEGI's Digital Map of Mexico.