Francisco J. Artigas was born in Concepcion, Chile. He attended the Universidad de Concepcion where he earned a B.S. in Biology.

He was accepted to the Environmental Biology Program at the Ohio State University where he read about soil chemistry and plant ecology. He earned a M.S. degree in Environmental Biology. He was later accepted to the Ohio State University Ph.D. program in Environmental Science were he studied and specialized in geographical information systems, ecosystem ecology, hydrology, soil sciences and computer modeling. He earned a Ph.D. in Environmental Science.

Sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the International Development Bank and the European Economic Community he has studied and develop environmental, agricultural and food security oriented Geographical Information Systems in Tanzania, Brazil, El Salvador and Bolivia.

He was a Research Associate Professor at Rutgers University Center for Information Management Integration and Connectivity (CIMIC) where he coordinated the activities of the Rutgers University NASA Regional Application Center. He was also the Assistant Director of the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute (MERI)

He is currently the Director and Senior Scientist of the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute.