Her work has been recognized with Level II membership in Mexico's Sistema Nacional de Investigadores.
[1] Hernandez Brenes earned her bachelor's degree in food engineering at the Tec de Monterrey in 1994, then a master's degree from Texas A&M University in 1996.
She started her doctorate at the same university but moved to the University of Arkansas, but completed training in HACCP procedures at Texas A&M.
[2] In 1993, she worked as an intern at Valley View Packing Company in San Jose, California, working with apricot and prune juice concentrates and dried fruit snacks.
Hernández Brenes was a professor and researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializing in food processing, beginning in 2000.