He grew up in Venezuela, where he received a Computer Engineering degree (2002). After moving to the UK he earned a PhD (2008) in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence studying learning behaviour in embodied and situated neural network models from the University of Sussex in the Center for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics. He started modelling the nervous system and behaviour of C. elegans as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oregon’s Institute of Neuroscience in close collaboration with experimental neuroscientists. Izquierdo moved to Indiana University in 2010 where he has focused on understanding how behaviour emerges from brain, body, environment interactions through the use of computational models.