Huffaker graduated from the University of Tennessee (1938 B.S., 1939 M.S.)then gaininig a Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 1942. He worked as a medical entomologist in Colombia, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. His strength in both entomology and botany led to his recruitment in 1946 by the Division of Biological Control of the University of California to be a specialist in population ecology, emphasizing the biological control of weeds. He was stationed at Berkeley with the group serving in the university's Division of Biological Control Quarantine Station. This station later became the Division of Biological Control of the former Department of Entomological Sciences. He remained at Berkeley until his retirement in 1984.    