The daughter of one of Ecuador’s first economists, Dr. Inés Cifuentes lived in several Latin American countries before moving with her family to the Washington, DC area at age 12. She graduated from Einstein High School in Kensington, Maryland, majored in physics at Swarthmore College, received her M.S. in geophysics at Stanford University, and became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in seismology from Columbia University.

With colleagues at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Dr. Cifuentes created CASE (Carnegie Academy for Science Education), a program to improve the teaching of science and mathematics in DC Public Schools. During the ten years she directed CASE, more than 1,000 teachers were trained in science, mathematics, and technology, and a group of 50 talented CASE mentor teachers were nurtured.

In 2001, she became the vice president of the Jaime Escalante Public Charter School Board, started by teachers and parents in Montgomery County, Maryland to highlight the academic achievement gap between Latino/African American students and White/Asian students. In 2002 Dr. Cifuentes joined the board of CASA of Maryland, an organization working with the low-income Latino community, and served as its president from 2004-2005. In 2006, Dr. Cifuentes received the National Hispanic Scientist of the Year award from the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, Florida.

Dr. Cifuentes is currently with the American Geophysical Union, the world's largest professional organization of earth and space scientists, to increase the number and diversity of young geophysicists working on some of the world’s major problems—climate change, energy and water resources, and the environment.