Grad-Awards

2026 Geography Spring Awards Lunch

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 16:42:17 +0000

2026 Geography Spring Awards Lunch Gabriela Rocha Sales Tue, 04/28/2026 - 10:42

On Friday, April 24th, the Geography Department celebrated the 2026 Spring Awards Lunch in the British and Irish Studies Room on the 5th Floor of the Norlin Library. This has been our 4th annual awards lunch. We celebrated the following awards:

Gilbert F. White Doctoral Summer Writing Award
John Pitlick Field Research Award
James A. and Jeanne B. DeSana Graduate Research Award
Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award
Adam Kolff Memorial Research Award
Excellence in Graduate Teaching – Graduate Part-time Instructor Award
Arctic Studies Certificate
GIS and Computational Science Certificate
Hydrology Certificate
A. David Hill Scholarship Award
DigitalGlobe Foundation Scott Smith Memorial Undergraduate Award
Mable B. Duncan Scholarship Award
Theodore C Myers Memorial Scholarship Award
2026 Mapathon winners

Our recipients were:

Emma Loizeaux (Gilbert F. White Doctoral Summer Writing Award)
Ethan Carr (The John Pitlick Field Research Award)
Hayes Hart-Thompson (The John Pitlick Field Research Award)
Emily Nagamoto (The John Pitlick Field Research Award)
Laine Sullivan (The John Pitlick Field Research Award)
Lauren Thomas (The John Pitlick Field Research Award)
Emma Tyrrell (The John Pitlick Field Research Award)
Josie Welsh (The John Pitlick Field Research Award)
Alek Berg (James A. and Jeanne B. DeSana Graduate Research Award)
Naomi Hazarika (James A. and Jeanne B. DeSana Graduate Research Award)
Lauren Herwehe (James A. and Jeanne B. DeSana Graduate Research Award)
Tsering Lhamo (James A. and Jeanne B. DeSana Graduate Research Award)
Danielle Losos (James A. and Jeanne B. DeSana Graduate Research Award)
Michela Savignano (James A. and Jeanne B. DeSana Graduate Research Award)
Nic Tarasewicz (James A. and Jeanne B. DeSana Graduate Research Award, the Excellence in Graduate Teaching – Graduate Part-time Instructor Award)
Annika Hirmke (Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award)
Taylor Johaneman (Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award, the Excellence in Graduate Teaching – Graduate Part-time Instructor Award)
Guiye Li (Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award)
Zhe Lin (Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award)
Sherrie Liu (Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award)
Esmee Mulder (Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award)
Yuying Ren (Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award)
Mallory Sagehorn (Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award)
Neda Shaban (Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award)
Anshul Rai Sharma (Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award)
Em Wright (Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award)
Rahila Yilangai (Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award)
Saad Hakim (Adam Kolff Memorial Research Award)
Lauren Palermo (Adam Kolff Memorial Research Award)
Anthony Pirolli (Adam Kolff Memorial Research Award)
Emelina Catterson (Arctic Studies Certificate)
Parker Jacobik (Arctic Studies Certificate)
Lucy Sutcliffe (Arctic Studies Certificate)
Matthew Akin (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
William Beach (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Benjamin Booker (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Bell Braitberg (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Emily Brown (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Clementine Clyker (GIS and Computational Science Certificate, Hydrology Certificate)
Alex Davis (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Tessa Dempster (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Stefan Ferla (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Sammy Fitterman (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Alex Frechetti (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Eric Gosnell (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Tahn Jandai (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Reidar Johnston (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Addison Klocker (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Ian Messa (GIS and Computational Science Certificate, Theodore C Myers Memorial Scholarship Award)
Ruth Mills (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Kalpana Murugan (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Asa Paonaskar (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Jordan Sanders (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Larry Scherer (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Carly Schwab (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Ash Tribble (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Rachel Underhill (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Abby Verneuille (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Stefan Wagner (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Erik Weniger (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Charlie Wrede (GIS and Computational Science Certificate)
Kian Oaklief (Hydrology Certificate)
Congyuan Zheng (A. David Hill Endowed Scholarship in Geography, DigitalGlobe Foundation Scott Smith Memorial Undergraduate Award)
Kale Potter (Mable B. Duncan Scholarship Award)
Ellie Shandro (Mable B. Duncan Scholarship Award)
Lyndsay Veerkamp (Mable B. Duncan Scholarship Award)
Syd Stevens (2026 Mapathon Winner, Life Affirming Geographies Category)
Benedict McCullough (2026 Mapathon Winner, Geographies of Care Category)
Zosia Kirkland (2026 Mapathon Winner, Geographies of Resistance & Repair Category)
Samara Lo (2026 Mapathon Winner, Geographies of Sustainability & Environmental Justice Category)
Zach Steiner (2026 Mapathon Winner, Best Overall Map, People's Choice Map)
Darian Chavez-Matsunaga (2026 Mapathon Winner, Honorable Mention)

See Pictures of the Event Here

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Hayes Hart-Thompson Awarded Student Employee of the Year

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 15:42:04 +0000

Hayes Hart-Thompson Awarded Student Employee of the Year Gabriela Rocha Sales Tue, 04/28/2026 - 09:42

Hayes Hart-Thompson is a master’s student studying Geography. Dr. Jessica Finlay (Assistant Professor in Geography) nominated Hayes for their roles as a teaching and research assistant. Across both positions, Hayes consistently exceeds expectations, through exceptional initiative, intellectual leadership and a deep commitment to equity, inclusion and collective success.

In the classroom, Hayes builds an inclusive environment where students feel seen, heard and intellectually challenged, especially in a course centered on power, privilege and urban inequality. During stressful or uncertain moments, Hayes proactively checked in with students and adjusted instructional approaches to keep the class grounded in trust and mutual respect. Hayes also made a lasting instructional contribution by designing and leading a three-week interactive capstone project that asked students to apply course concepts to a realistic urban planning scenario, setting a new standard for experiential, justice-oriented learning in the department.

Hayes strengthens departmental research by contributing novel ideas that improve project design, collaborative workflows and advance equity-centered research practices. As a leader, Hayes supports and mentors other students and elevates their peers through encouragement, constructive guidance, and deep collaboration.

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Four Geography Graduate Students are Awarded the GRFP, Setting Campus Record!

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 21:41:36 +0000

Four Geography Graduate Students are Awarded the GRFP, Setting Campus Record! Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/27/2026 - 15:41

Four Geography graduate students were awarded the prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)! The National Science Foundation’s GRFP is to help ensure the quality, vitality, and strength of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. Since 1952, the program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing full-time research-based master's and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, including STEM education. NSF GRFP was established to recruit and support individuals who demonstrate the potential to make significant contributions in STEM, including STEM education.

Lauren Palermo’s proposal is titled "Mapping the Landslide Built-Up Interface: How Evolving Human Settlement Creates Exposure to Landslides across the U.S." Lauren is the lead author of the USGS National Landslide Damages and Losses open dataset.

Danielle’s research leverages global satellite data to map trends in wildland fire behavior. She is reimagining fundamental fire science by testing theoretical relationships at continental scales. By fusing multi-scale, multi-temporal observations, she aims to understand the connection between fire speed, intensity, duration, and the socio-ecological outcomes of extreme fire events.

Emily’s research investigates how rising temperatures are impacting forest recovery after wildfire in the Southern Rocky Mountains. With increasing fire activity in the US Mountain West and hotter, drier climatic conditions, her work aims to synthesize field and remotely sensed data on recovery over the last several decades. Particularly, she aims to understand potential areas vulnerable to non-recovery, such as trailing edge forests.

Nyika Campbell, is currently working with Dr. Sisimac Duchicela's Mountain Ecology and Biogeography Lab (Mt. Bio) investigating change in alpine plant communities throughout the Americas. Nyika will continue this work as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow with the Mt. Bio lab beginning a masters degree with the CU Geography department in the Fall of 2026. Nyika's work aims to develop a framework for understanding and predicting plant community change across continents by using cutting-edge statistical methods to link large-scale satellite datasets to existing field-based observations. Prior to her current position as a Lab Manager at CU Nyika served for four years as an ecology field crew leader with the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Southwest research stations of the U.S. Forest Service.

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Annika Hirmke Receives Wenner-Gren Fellowship for her Dissertation Research on Community Solar in Montana

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 18:03:34 +0000

Annika Hirmke Receives Wenner-Gren Fellowship for her Dissertation Research on Community Solar in Montana Gabriela Rocha Sales Wed, 04/15/2026 - 12:03

Annika is a PhD candidate in the doctoral program of Geography at ̽��Ƶ working with Prof. Jill Harrison and Prof. Joe Bryan. Her dissertation project titled “Solar Possibilities: Community Solar Against Monopoly Power” investigates the promises of community solar in Montana where the renewable energy industry in Montana has picked up significant speed in recent years, but most projects built end up exporting energy and serving communities outside Montana. In this context, community solar promises accessibility and benefit to the communities in its direct vicinity and environmental organizers have increasingly pushed for these kinds of projects amidst escalating electricity costs, higher frequency of extreme weather disrupting the grid, and rising energy demand in the state.

The Wenner-Gren dissertation fieldwork grant funds research that advances anthropological knowledge. This prestigious grant will support Annika in conducting in-depth fieldwork for the remainder of the year, enabling her to build deeper community relationships, work with environmental organizers, and conduct research across the state and across several community solar sites. With the support of several other awards from CU and the Department of Geography (CARTSS, Beverly Sears, Dinaburg Memorial Fellowship, and the John Pitlick Field Research Award), Annika has already gotten started on this fieldwork and has learned a lot about the different community solar sites and statewide energy landscapes which the remaining research will build on.

The dissertation research includes an ethnographic study of three existing community solar projects and how these three sites fit into the larger energy landscape in Montana and beyond. While each of these sites are created by rural electric cooperatives (more directly governed by the membership they serve) and share the same basic structure of community solar, their experience and (re)imagination of energy and space differ in ways that shape the infrastructural problems they aim to solve and how they do so. 1) Fergus Electric Cooperative (Lewistown): In “cattle country” this project serves an agricultural region and former gold rush area struggling with changing economic conditions and billionaires driving up the price of land. Community solar offers a path to economic survival through saved costs and to promote the use of renewables when climate change threatens their way of life. 2) Beartooth Electric Cooperative (Red Lodge): Historically central to Montana’s coal economy, now a tourist hub with little affordable housing for the workers that sustain its economy. Here, community solar offers possibilities to both sustain the people living there and conserve the landscape that draws tourists. And 3) Blackfeet Community Solar Energy Project (Blackfeet Reservation): This project entails a solar farm as well as jobs and job training for the solar industry and related fields for Native youth. It aims to address the longstanding structural neglect of Native tribes by rebuilding community and ecological relations. This site brings in considerations of energy sovereignty, economic development of the tribe, and restoring tribal ecological relations. Together, the three project sites provide an opportunity to investigate both the convergences and divergences of community solar projects in Montana and their particular geographical and historical settings.

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Ethan Carr Selected as Hindi-Kush-Himalaya-Arctic Climate Youth Champion

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 20:53:12 +0000

Ethan Carr Selected as Hindi-Kush-Himalaya-Arctic Climate Youth Champion Gabriela Rocha Sales Thu, 11/06/2025 - 13:53

Ethan Carr, Geography MA alum 2024 and current Geography Ph.D. student has been selected as one of 12 Climate Youth Champions at the inaugural cohort of the Hindu-Kush-Himalaya - Arctic Youth Leadership Forum. The Champions were chosen from 9 different countries. See full list of Champions. The goal of the Leadership Forum is to "establish an annual Youth Leadership Forum that promotes a new generation of mountain and polar youth climate leaders. The Forum will inform, empower, and support youth from the HKH and Arctic regions by giving them a platform to bring in their perspectives and voices, strengthen their leadership skills, build capacity, and promote intergenerational dialogue to help ensure more youth-focused climate decision-making processes on cryosphere and biodiversity."

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Recipients of the Spring 2025 Excellence in Graduate Teaching – Teaching Assistant Award

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 14:05:59 +0000

Recipients of the Spring 2025 Excellence in Graduate Teaching – Teaching Assistant Award Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/21/2025 - 08:05

Recipients of the Excellence in Graduate Teaching – Teaching Assistant Award: Hayes Hart-Thompson, Emma Loizeaux, and Fedor Popov.

To reward good teaching practice and encourage graduates to develop teaching skills.

The recipients are:

Hayes Hart-Thompson

Emma Loizeaux

Fedor Popov

To reward good teaching practice and encourage graduates to develop teaching skills.

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Recipients of the Spring 2025 Adam Kolff Memorial Research Award For MA Students

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 14:02:40 +0000

Recipients of the Spring 2025 Adam Kolff Memorial Research Award For MA Students Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/21/2025 - 08:02

Spring 2025 Recipients of the Adam Kolff Memorial Research Award For MA Students: Hayes Hart-Thompson and Theo Kuhn

The Adam Kolff Memorial Research Awards are meant to enhance research opportunities for MA students in Geography. This award is named after a former MA student.

The recipients are:

Hayes Hart-Thompson

Theo Kuhn

The Adam Kolff Memorial Research Awards are meant to enhance research opportunities for MA students in Geography. This award is named after a former MA student.

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Recipients of the Spring 2025 Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award For PhD Students

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 13:57:17 +0000

Recipients of the Spring 2025 Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award For PhD Students Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/21/2025 - 07:57

Spring 2025 Recipients of the Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award For PhD Students: Drolma Gadou, Guiye Li, Zhe Lin, Lars Schwaebe, and Jiacheng Zhou.

The Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Awards are meant to enhance travel and research opportunities for PhD students in Geography. This award is named after a former PhD student.

The Spring 2025 Recipients are:

The Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Awards are meant to enhance travel and research opportunities for PhD students in Geography. This award is named after a former PhD student.

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Recipients of the Spring 2025 James A. and Jeanne B. DeSana Conference Travel Award

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 13:47:11 +0000

Recipients of the Spring 2025 James A. and Jeanne B. DeSana Conference Travel Award Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/21/2025 - 07:47

Recipients of the Spring 2025 James A. and Jeanne B. DeSana Conference Travel Award: Alek Berg, Ethan Carr, Xiaoling Chen, Drolma Gadou, Fan Li, Sherrie Liu, Luca Palasti, Chris Picard, Holly Roth, Mallory Sagehorn, Nic Tarasewicz, Lauren Thomas, and Zhongying Wang

This award, made possible by an anonymous donor, is to be used to “support graduate student research.” To honor the donor’s wishes, the Department makes this award late in the Spring semester so that it can be used for conference travel through the end of Fall 2025.

Spring 2025 Recipients:

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Recipients of the Spring 2025 John Pitlick Field Research Award

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 21:37:13 +0000

Recipients of the Spring 2025 John Pitlick Field Research Award Gabriela Rocha Sales Fri, 04/18/2025 - 15:37

Spring 2025 Pitlick Award Recipients: Annika Hirmke, Prakriti Mukerjee, Esmee Mulder, Holly Roth, Anshul Sharma, Nic Tarasewicz, and Rahila Yilangai

This award will be used to provide support to graduate students for field research in the Geography Department at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Funds will be used to cover field research-related expenses, including, but not limited to travel to and from the field area, reimbursable living expenses while in the field, costs associated with workshops, or specialized training courses, field equipment, and other costs associated with carrying out the field research.

Spring 2025 Recipients:

This award will be used to provide support to graduate students for field research in the Geography Department at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

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