Born in Colombia, Ricardo Quiroga credits his career in science to his childhood memories of time spent exploring the unique biodiversity of the country’s environments. He began his career working for a system of national parks in Colombia seeking to protect the Amazon rainforests. In 2014 Quiroga co-founded AmeriGEO, a framework to promote Earth observations for decision-making in programs handling disasters, agriculture, health, water and ecosystems. Since then he has coordinated with the worldwide Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in Colombia to expand AmeriGEO’s mission to include North, South and Central American initiatives. Quiroga now serves as the coordinator of NASA’s Disasters program.