Jorge R. Ortiz Zayas holds a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico (UPRP) and a Ph.D. in Environmental, Organismal, and Population Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He worked as a hydrologist at the US Geological Survey and as an environmental consultant assisting the Puerto Rico government with environmental assessments of water development projects. Since 2003, he has been a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico (UPRP) in Río Piedras, where he develops applied limnological research. He has represented the University of Puerto Rico on the Puerto Rico Water Plan Committee of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. He also represented Puerto Rico at UNESCO for the Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) project and represented Puerto Rico at the Global Water Partnership. His research interests include environmental change and the impact of human activities on the water cycle, integrated water resource management, water quality, and water history.