Marcelo Jenkins obtained a B.S. degree en Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Costa Rica in 1986 and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Delaware, USA, in 1988 and 1992 respectively.

Since 1986 he has been teaching computer science at the University of Costa Rica. From 1993 until 1998 he coordinated the Graduate Committee and from 1998 through 2001 he was the Chairman of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences. His research interests are in software engineering, software quality assurance, project management, and object-oriented programming. He has authored more than 150 technical papers on these subjects.

As an independent consultant, he has worked with some of the largest software companies in the Central America region in establishing software quality management systems. In the last 22 years, he has taught several seminars on software quality assurance and software project management in 7 different countries. Dr. Jenkins is an ASQ Certified Software Quality Engineer (CSQE) in 2003.

Between 2015 and 2017 he was appointed as Minister of Science, Technology and Telecommunications in Costa Rica.