We are a young team of Environmental health researchers, geospatial analysts, and air quality researchers using innovative solutions for air quality monitoring in low resource settings. Every time we encounter a large dataset, a new modelling approach, a new statistical technique, a new visualization challenge, we ask ourselves - “Can we do this in R ?”, and for the past four years (since we started this work), the answer has been a resounding “yes”. I will share how we use R not just for data analysis and visualization but also as a great open source tool for collaboration and engagement.