GIS

Guofeng Cao

Guofeng Cao

Assistant Professor of Geography • GIScience, GeoAI, geostatistics/spatial statistics, and remote sensing • PhD University of California Santa Barbara 2011
GIS
Research Interests My research is characterized by an interdisciplinary perspective on geographic information science driven by advances of spatial Big Data (e.g., social media and remote sensing), machine learning/artificial intelligence, and computational sciences. I am interested in deep learning of heterogeneous geographic information to support uncertainty-aware geographic knowledge discovery and decision making. Particularly, I focus on the development of novel statistical/machine learning and computational methodologies for (a) integrating heterogeneous sources...
Rachel Isaacs

Rachel Isaacs

Teaching Assistant Professor • Liaison with Continuing Education • Interests: Biogeography, climate change, landscape ecology, GIS, remote sensing • PhD The Pennsylvania State University - State College, 2016 • M.S. Texas A&M University - College Station, 2007
GIS • Physical Geography
Research Interests I completed my Ph.D. work at Pennsylvania State University in the Department of Geography. My doctoral work examined the spatial and temporal impacts of climate change on treeline in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. I am one of the rare few who received degrees in Geography throughout my academic career, first for my Bachelor’s degree at the University of Hawai’i -Hilo and then for my Master’s degree...
Morteza Karimzadeh

Morteza Karimzadeh

Assistant Professor of Geography • Affiliate Assistant Professor, Computer Science, Information Science • spatial data science • visual analytics • geographic information retrieval • machine learning • geovisualization • PhD Penn State, 2018
GIS
Research Interests I am a spatial data scientist, with research and contributions cutting across geographic information retrieval, machine learning, geovisualization, and visual analytics. I conduct integrative research that brings together data science with social/environmental science to inform best practices for a more sustainable and equitable society. My research primarily focuses on method development, spanning various domains including GeoAI-based sea ice mapping, human mobility analysis, social media analytics, energy (resilience and...
Stefan Leyk photo portrait

Stefan Leyk

Professor of Geography • GIScience, uncertainty modeling, small area estimation, cartographic pattern recognition • Ph.D. University of Zurich / Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape, 2005
GIS
Research Interests Uncertainty in GIScience and spatial uncertainty modeling Land cover change modeling; retrospective landscape assessments based on historical spatial information Cartographic pattern recognition from historical maps Spatial dynamic modeling approaches in public health Recent Courses Taught Spring 2024 GEOG 4103/5103 GIS: Spatial Analytics Spring 2024 GEOG 4303/5303 GIS: Spatial Programming Fall 2023 GEOG 4103/5103 GIS: Spatial Analytics Summer 2023 GEOG 4603/5603 GIS in the Social and Natural Sciences Fall...
Sarah Kelly photo portrait

Sarah Schlosser

Teaching Associate Professor • Interests: GIScience, statistics, spatial analysis, wetland science, ecological restoration • M.A. Geography, 2008, University of South Florida
GIS
Note: Sarah Schlosser does not advise graduate students. Recent Courses Taught Spring 2024 GEOG 3053 GIS: Mapping Fall 2023 GEOG 2053 Mapping a Changing World Fall 2023 GEOG 3053 GIS: Mapping Spring 2023 GEOG 3053 GIS: Mapping Spring 2023 GEOG 4503/5503 GIS: Project Management Fall 2022 GEOG 2053 Mapping a Changing World Fall 2022 GEOG 3053 GIS: Mapping Fall 2022 GEOG 4103/5103 GIS: Spatial Analytics Summer 2022 GEOG 3053 GIS:...

Human Geography

joe bryan photo

Joe Bryan

Associate Professor of Geography • Indigenous Politics in the Americas; Human Rights; and Critical Cartography. • Director, Latin American and Latinx Studies Center (2023-26) • Ph.D. University of California Berkeley, 2007
Human Geography
Research Interests My work focuses on the politics of indigeneity in the Americas, with particular attention to questions of land, territory, and rights. In the past, I have developed these interests through research on titling and demarcation of indigenous lands in eastern Nicaragua. I have recently shifted my work to Oaxaca, Mexico. This work is broadly informed by my longer involvement with indigenous rights, as both an advocate and a...
Jessica Finlay

Jessica Finlay

Assistant Professor of Geography • Neighborhoods, aging, health and well-being; health geography and social epidemiology; qualitative and mixed methods • Faculty Fellow, Institute of Behavioral Science • Ph.D. University of Minnesota, 2018
Human Geography • Environment-Society
Research Interests I am a health geographer and environmental gerontologist who uses qualitative and mixed methods to investigate how built, social, and natural environments affect health, aging, and quality of mid to later life. I focus particularly on neighborhood determinants of cognitive aging and physically, socially, and intellectually active aging in place. The goal of my research is to inform upstream health promotion and policy strategies to address socio-geographic determinants...
Jennifer Fluri photo portrait

Jennifer Fluri

Department Chair • Professor of Geography • Feminist political geography; conflict security and development; South/Southwest Asia • Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University, 2005
Human Geography
Research Interests I am a feminist political geographer concentrating on conflict, security, and aid/development in Afghanistan. In Colorado, I co-direct the CU-Boulder Affordable Housing Research Initiative (CU-BAHRI), which focuses on community-driven and engaged research with organizations and individuals providing, working toward, or interested in affordable housing. My doctoral research focused on the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), a clandestine feminist-nationalist organization. My interest in this organization was...
Mara Goldman

Mara Goldman

Associate Professor of Geography • Political Ecology; Science and Technology Studies; indigenous knowledge; Nature-Society Relations • Faculty Research Associate of IBS • Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006 • Director, IBS Environment and Society Program
Human Geography • Environment-Society
Mara J. Goldman is an associate professor in the Department of Geography, a faculty fellow in the Institute for Behavioral Sciences, and an affiliate faculty in the Gender and Women’s Studies Program and the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She received her PhD in 2006 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (geography) and holds an MS in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development also from...
Jill Harrison

Jill Lindsey Harrison

Associate Professor • Environmental Justice • Environmental Politics • Political Ecology • Agriculture and Food Systems • PhD, University of California at Santa Cruz, 2006
Human Geography • Environment-Society
Research Interests My research helps identify the cultural relations and political economic processes that disproportionately situate members of racially marginalized, Indigenous, and working-class communities in dangerous spaces and precarious conditions that contribute to inequalities in life opportunity, illness, and death. I also identify ways the state, social movements, and other institutions can more effectively redress those inequalities. I have done so through various cases of environmental and workplace inequality in...
Taneesha Mohan

Taneesha Mohan

Teaching Assistant Professor • MA/M.Phil Jawaharlal Nehru University, 2009 • PhD London School of Economics, 2016 • Postdoc Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York
Human Geography • Environment-Society
I am a critical development geographer focusing on aspects of gender, labour, migration, refugees, agrarian political economy and social justice in the context of South Asia. I have worked extensively in India and Bangladesh. I completed my doctoral research from the London School of Economics (2016), which focused on the marginalization of rural female agrarian labour, the rising indebtedness in agriculture and the creation of a regime of labour tying...
John O'Loughlin

John O'Loughlin

Professor of Geography • Political • Former Soviet Union • Nationalism • Climate change and conflict • Faculty Research Associate of IBS • Arts and Sciences College Professor of Distinction • Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University, 1973
Human Geography
Research Interests I am a political geographer especially interested in the spatial and territorial aspects of conflict. I examine both aggregate data collected on the basis of small geographic units as well as individual survey data to understand the motivations of people to engage in violence as well as to measure the effects of violence on people’s material lives, experiences (especially migration), and attitudes. For the past 30 years, I...
Tim Oakes photo portrait

Timothy Oakes

Professor of Geography • Cultural Politics; Economic and Social Change; China • Ph.D. University of Washington, 1995
Human Geography
Research Interests My work focuses on social and cultural transformation in contemporary China and, in particular, the uses and reinventions of local culture as a resource for economic development and governance objectives. I have explored this theme in the contexts of ethnic tourism and craft commodity production, cultural heritage development, and urban redevelopment and planning. My most recent research explores the development and use of leisure and consumption spaces in...
Colleen Reid photo portrait

Colleen Reid

Associate Professor of Geography • Health impacts of environmental change • Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 2014
Human Geography • Environment-Society
Research Interests I study how environmental and social exposures interact to influence health with a particular focus on exposures caused by global climatic changes and society’s responses to those changes. To date my research has focused on the health impacts of exposure to air pollution from wildfires, extreme heat events, and proximity to urban vegetation. I have received funding for my research from the EPA, NSF, CDC, the Robert Wood...
Bill Travis portrait

William Riebsame Travis

Associate Professor of Geography • Natural and technological hazards, climate change, risk and decision-analysis • Director, North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (NCCASC) CIRES/USGS • Ph.D. Clark University, 1981
Environment-Society • Human Geography
Research Interests Three big questions about human behavior in the environment guide my current research and teaching: Disasters: Why do disasters occur even when and where we invest significant efforts to make systems and settlements safe? Extremes and Risk: What differentiates extreme events from routine, and can we improve our handling of low probability/high consequence risks? Climate Adaptation Science: How and when should managers of climate-sensitive resources change what they're...
Yaffa Truelove

Yaffa Truelove

Assistant Professor of Geography • Urban and Feminist Political Ecology of Water • India • Southern Urbanism • Urban Infrastructure • Water Governance • Nature-Society Relations • Faculty of International Affairs • PhD University of Cambridge, 2015
Human Geography • Environment-Society
Research Interests At the nexus of urban geography and human-environment relations, my research primarily examines the connections between urban waterscapes and socio-political processes in cities of the global South. In particular, I examine water and its infrastructures as a lens for analyzing social and material relations in cities as well as differing regimes and institutions of everyday urban governance. My prior research has predominately focused on Indian cities, contributing to...
Emily Yeh

Emily Yeh

Professor of Geography • Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, 2023-24 • Nature/society geography; political ecology; cultural politics; development; Tibet; China • Faculty Affiliate: Center for Asian Studies, CNAIS, C3BC • Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 2003
Human Geography • Environment-Society
Research Interests My main research interests are on questions of power, political economy, and cultural politics in the nature-society relationship. Using primarily ethnographic methods, I have conducted research on property rights, natural resource conflicts, environmental history, development and landscape transformation, grassland management and environmental policies, and emerging environmentalisms in Tibetan areas of China. In addition, I have also worked on the politics of identity and race in the Tibetan diaspora,...

Physical Geography

Waleed Abdalati photo portrait

Waleed Abdalati

Professor of Geography • Remote Sensing of Earth’s Ice Cover • Executive Director of CIRES • Ph.D. University of Colorado at Boulder, 1996
Physical Geography
Research Interests My research interests are in the use of satellite and airborne remote sensing techniques, integrated with in situ observations and modeling, to understand how and why the Earth's ice cover is changing, and what those changes mean for life on Earth. In particular, my research focuses on the contributions of ice sheets and high-latitude glaciers to sea level rise and their relationship to the changing climate. Toward that...
John Adler

John Adler

Instructor of Geography • Ph.D. 2010 • Satellite & Aircraft Remote Sensing • UAS Operations
Physical Geography
Note: John Adler does not advise graduate students. Recent Courses Taught Spring 2024 GEOG 4003/5100 UAS for Earth Observations Spring 2024 GEOG/GEOL 4093/5093 Remote Sensing of the Environment Fall 2023 GEOG 4003/5100 UAS for Earth Observations Fall 2023 GEOG/GEOL 4093/5093 Remote Sensing of the Environment Spring 2023 GEOG 4003/5100 Advanced Remote Sensing Spring 2023 GEOG/GEOL 4093/5093 Remote Sensing of the Environment Fall 2022 GEOG 4003/5100 UAS for Earth Observations Fall...
Jennifer Balch photo portrait

Jennifer Balch

Associate Professor of Geography • Fire ecology; Land use/landcover change; Global change ecology; Tropical forest ecology • Director, Earth Lab • Fellow of CIRES • Ph.D. Yale University, 2008
Physical Geography
Research Interests We need to reassess the role of fire on Earth. At a global scale, we know very little about how fire influences ecosystem dynamics, and in turn, how ecosystem patterns and processes control the fire cycle. My research aims to understand the patterns and processes that underlie disturbance and ecosystem recovery, particularly how shifting fire regimes are reconfiguring tropical forests, encouraging non-native grass invasion, and affecting the global...
Holly Barnard photo portrait

Holly Barnard

Professor of Geography • Associate Dean of Research, College of Arts and Sciences • Fellow of INSTAAR • Co-Director of Hydrologic Sciences Graduate Program • Ecohydrology; Stable Isotope Geochemistry; Forest Hydrology; Tree Physiology • Ph.D. Oregon State University, 2009
Physical Geography
Research Interests The ultimate goal of my research is to improve our knowledge of how changes in climate and land-use will affect forest ecosystems and water resources. I investigate how forest processes affect water flow dynamics and pathways in soil and streams, and conversely, how water flow paths affect ecological function in mountainous areas. This bridging of hydrology and ecosystem science is key to developing sustainable management of water resources...
Peter Blanken Photo Portrait

Peter Blanken

Professor of Geography • Climatology; Biometeorology • Faculty of Hydrologic Sciences • Ph.D. University of British Columbia, 1997
Physical Geography
Research Interests My overall research objective is to understand how the physical processes regulating water and carbon cycling at the Earth's surface are affected by environmental changes. I study a variety of ecosystems including lakes, wetlands, alpine tundra, forest, and grasslands. My research is based on observations made at each location using a variety of instruments, and I often use models and remote sensing to help interpret the measurements. More...
Rachel Isaacs

Rachel Isaacs

Teaching Assistant Professor • Liaison with Continuing Education • Interests: Biogeography, climate change, landscape ecology, GIS, remote sensing • PhD The Pennsylvania State University - State College, 2016 • M.S. Texas A&M University - College Station, 2007
GIS • Physical Geography
Research Interests I completed my Ph.D. work at Pennsylvania State University in the Department of Geography. My doctoral work examined the spatial and temporal impacts of climate change on treeline in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. I am one of the rare few who received degrees in Geography throughout my academic career, first for my Bachelor’s degree at the University of Hawai’i -Hilo and then for my Master’s degree...
Katherine Lininger photo portrait

Katherine Lininger

Assistant Professor of Geography • fluvial geomorphology; ecogeomorphology; carbon cycle; water resources management; coupled natural-human systems • PhD in Earth Sciences, Colorado State University
Physical Geography
Research Interests Rivers integrate the landscape, carrying and depositing water, sediment, large wood, carbon, and nutrients. My research is focused on river and floodplain dynamics and the interactions between geomorphic processes and ecological processes. I am particularly interested in the influence of river and floodplain processes on the flux and storage of organic carbon in floodplain soil and large wood; interactions between downed large wood, vegetation, and geomorphic processes; river...
Noah Molotch photo portrait

Noah Molotch

Associate Professor of Geography • Surface Water and Snow Hydrology; Remote Sensing; Ecohydrology • Fellow of INSTAAR • Faculty of Hydrologic Sciences • Ph.D. The University of Arizona, 2004
Physical Geography
Research Interests My research and teaching interests are focused on the processes controlling hydrologic fluxes in mountainous regions and within the greater Earth system. Improved understanding of these processes is essential for sustainable management of natural resources and for making informed environmental policy decisions. My research projects utilize ground-based observations, remote sensing, and computational modeling to obtain comprehensive understanding of hydrological processes; in particular the distribution of snow and vegetation...
Keith Musselman

Keith Musselman

Assistant Professor of Geography, College of Arts and Sciences • Fellow of INSTAAR • Faculty of Hydrologic Sciences • Hydrology; Snow Water Resources; Climate Change; Ecosystem Services • Ph.D. University of California Los Angeles, 2012
Physical Geography
Research Interests: The goal of my research is to evaluate the availability of freshwater in seasonally snow-covered environments, to explain the mechanisms by which water resources develop and respond to perturbations in natural and managed systems, and to study the response of systems to changes in water availability. Societal, ecological, and economical dependencies on the seasonal delivery of snowmelt runoff motivate my research that serves to improve predictive capacity and...
Bharat Rastogi

Bharat Rastogi

Assistant Professor of Physical Geography • Terrestrial carbon cycle and climate feedbacks • PhD Oregon State University 2018
Physical Geography
Research Interests Anthropogenic CO 2 emissions are fundamentally altering Earth's climate with wide ranging impacts on terrestrial ecosystems. The overarching goal of my research is to better understand the changing carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystems: how these ecosystems respond to anthropogenic climate change and land management decisions, and in turn how those changes will feed back on the climate and affect human societies. Current research I employ a combination of...
Mark Serreze photo portrait

Mark Serreze

Distinguished Professor of Geography • Arctic climate; global implications; and climate warming in the Arctic • Director of NSIDC • Fellow of CIRES • Arts and Sciences College Professor of Distinction • Ph.D. University of Colorado at Boulder, 1989
Physical Geography
Research Interests Mark C. Serreze is the Director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). While his research has encompassed all aspects of our planet's cryosphere - ie snow and ice cover - he has a long standing love of the Arctic. Interests include atmosphere-sea ice interactions, synoptic climatology, boundary layer problems, and climate change. He has...

Environment-Society

Jessica Finlay

Jessica Finlay

Assistant Professor of Geography • Neighborhoods, aging, health and well-being; health geography and social epidemiology; qualitative and mixed methods • Faculty Fellow, Institute of Behavioral Science • Ph.D. University of Minnesota, 2018
Human Geography • Environment-Society
Research Interests I am a health geographer and environmental gerontologist who uses qualitative and mixed methods to investigate how built, social, and natural environments affect health, aging, and quality of mid to later life. I focus particularly on neighborhood determinants of cognitive aging and physically, socially, and intellectually active aging in place. The goal of my research is to inform upstream health promotion and policy strategies to address socio-geographic determinants...
Mara Goldman

Mara Goldman

Associate Professor of Geography • Political Ecology; Science and Technology Studies; indigenous knowledge; Nature-Society Relations • Faculty Research Associate of IBS • Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006 • Director, IBS Environment and Society Program
Human Geography • Environment-Society
Mara J. Goldman is an associate professor in the Department of Geography, a faculty fellow in the Institute for Behavioral Sciences, and an affiliate faculty in the Gender and Women’s Studies Program and the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She received her PhD in 2006 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (geography) and holds an MS in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development also from...
Jill Harrison

Jill Lindsey Harrison

Associate Professor • Environmental Justice • Environmental Politics • Political Ecology • Agriculture and Food Systems • PhD, University of California at Santa Cruz, 2006
Human Geography • Environment-Society
Research Interests My research helps identify the cultural relations and political economic processes that disproportionately situate members of racially marginalized, Indigenous, and working-class communities in dangerous spaces and precarious conditions that contribute to inequalities in life opportunity, illness, and death. I also identify ways the state, social movements, and other institutions can more effectively redress those inequalities. I have done so through various cases of environmental and workplace inequality in...
Taneesha Mohan

Taneesha Mohan

Teaching Assistant Professor • MA/M.Phil Jawaharlal Nehru University, 2009 • PhD London School of Economics, 2016 • Postdoc Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York
Human Geography • Environment-Society
I am a critical development geographer focusing on aspects of gender, labour, migration, refugees, agrarian political economy and social justice in the context of South Asia. I have worked extensively in India and Bangladesh. I completed my doctoral research from the London School of Economics (2016), which focused on the marginalization of rural female agrarian labour, the rising indebtedness in agriculture and the creation of a regime of labour tying...
Colleen Reid photo portrait

Colleen Reid

Associate Professor of Geography • Health impacts of environmental change • Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 2014
Human Geography • Environment-Society
Research Interests I study how environmental and social exposures interact to influence health with a particular focus on exposures caused by global climatic changes and society’s responses to those changes. To date my research has focused on the health impacts of exposure to air pollution from wildfires, extreme heat events, and proximity to urban vegetation. I have received funding for my research from the EPA, NSF, CDC, the Robert Wood...
Bill Travis portrait

William Riebsame Travis

Associate Professor of Geography • Natural and technological hazards, climate change, risk and decision-analysis • Director, North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (NCCASC) CIRES/USGS • Ph.D. Clark University, 1981
Environment-Society • Human Geography
Research Interests Three big questions about human behavior in the environment guide my current research and teaching: Disasters: Why do disasters occur even when and where we invest significant efforts to make systems and settlements safe? Extremes and Risk: What differentiates extreme events from routine, and can we improve our handling of low probability/high consequence risks? Climate Adaptation Science: How and when should managers of climate-sensitive resources change what they're...
Yaffa Truelove

Yaffa Truelove

Assistant Professor of Geography • Urban and Feminist Political Ecology of Water • India • Southern Urbanism • Urban Infrastructure • Water Governance • Nature-Society Relations • Faculty of International Affairs • PhD University of Cambridge, 2015
Human Geography • Environment-Society
Research Interests At the nexus of urban geography and human-environment relations, my research primarily examines the connections between urban waterscapes and socio-political processes in cities of the global South. In particular, I examine water and its infrastructures as a lens for analyzing social and material relations in cities as well as differing regimes and institutions of everyday urban governance. My prior research has predominately focused on Indian cities, contributing to...
Emily Yeh

Emily Yeh

Professor of Geography • Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, 2023-24 • Nature/society geography; political ecology; cultural politics; development; Tibet; China • Faculty Affiliate: Center for Asian Studies, CNAIS, C3BC • Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 2003
Human Geography • Environment-Society
Research Interests My main research interests are on questions of power, political economy, and cultural politics in the nature-society relationship. Using primarily ethnographic methods, I have conducted research on property rights, natural resource conflicts, environmental history, development and landscape transformation, grassland management and environmental policies, and emerging environmentalisms in Tibetan areas of China. In addition, I have also worked on the politics of identity and race in the Tibetan diaspora,...