Carlos Mena is an Ecuadorian Professor at the San Francisco de Quito University, Ecuador, and Founding Director of the Institute of Geography at the same University. Carlos is also the Founder and Co-Director of the Galapagos Science Center (GSC), Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, founding member of the Ecuadorian Association of Geographers and member of the Ecuadorian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Mena´s research has covered topics of population and environment, remote sensing, geographic information science, complex adaptive systems, population geography, conservation, political ecology, citizen science, climate change and community development. Carlos has won several prestigious academic honors, including, the Earth Systems Science Fellowship from the US National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA), and has more than 80 publications, including a book published by Springer Science and Business Media.