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 Ph.D. program in Environmental Science at the Ohio State University
where he studied geographical information systems, ecosystem ecology,
hydrology, soil sciences and computer modeling and 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 developed environmental, agricultural and food security oriented Geo-Informatic systems in Tanzania,
Brazil, El Salvador and Bolivia.

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

He is currently Research Associate professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Rutgers University Newark and the Director  of the Meadowlands
Environmental Research Institute