Trimberger grew up in Sacramento, CA, USA and earned his B.S. in Engineering and Applied Science from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), M.S. in Information and Computer Science from the University of California at Irvine and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the California Institute of Technology.
While attending Caltech, Trimberger joined the Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey (PCAS) project, with principal investigator Gene Shoemaker, operated by Eleanor "Glo" Helin.