Navarro was born in Mexico. After high school he worked as a computer data capture analyst then enrolled in the University of Guanajuato mining engineering school. After switching his major to chemical engineering, he transferred to the University of Utah, where he received his bachelor's degree. He is now pursuing a Ph.D in the nuclear engineering graduate program.
He came to the INL in 2008 as a space nuclear research summer fellow. He has since worked on upgrading methods and codes for the Advanced Test Reactor, developing non-destructive gamma spectroscopy techniques to support the fuel management process.
In 2009, he became a United States citizen.
