Commencement group photo of student tossing their mortarboards

Faculty

We believe what makes our department special is our dedicated faculty and staff who strive to create a supportive, caring, and dynamic learning environment. Our world-class faculty members are frequently recognized with awards and honors. Our research has had major policy impacts, and we are often quoted in the press and cited for our groundbreaking research.

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

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

Holly Barnard

Associate Professor of Geography • Fellow of INSTAAR • Faculty of Hydrologic Sciences • Ecohydrology; Stable Isotope Geochemistry; Forest Hydrology; Tree Physiology • Ph.D. Oregon State University, 2009

Physical Geography

Peter Blanken

Professor of Geography • Climatology; Biometeorology • Faculty of Hydrologic Sciences • Ph.D. University of British Columbia, 1997

Physical Geography

Joe Bryan

Associate Professor of Geography • Indigenous Politics in the Americas; Human Rights; and Critical Cartography. • Ph.D. University of California Berkeley, 2007

Human Geography

Barbara (Babs) Buttenfield

Professor of Geography • GIS, Cartographic Generalization, Multi-Scale Databases • Ph.D. University of Washington, 1984

GIS

Jennifer Fluri

Associate Professor of Geography • Feminist political geography; conflict security and development; South/Southwest Asia • Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University, 2005

Human Geography

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

Human Geography • Environment-Society

Morteza Karimzadeh

Assistant Professor of Geography • spatial data science • visual analytics • geographic Information retrieval • machine learning • geovisualization • PhD Penn State, 2018

GIS

Stefan Leyk

Associate 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

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

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

John O'Loughlin

Professor of Geography • Political; Former Soviet Union; Post Communist Societies; Nationalism • Faculty Research Associate of IBS • Arts and Sciences College Professor of Distinction • Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University, 1973

Human Geography

Timothy Oakes

Professor of Geography • Cultural Politics; Economic and Social Change; China • Director of CAS • Ph.D. University of Washington, 1995

Human Geography

A. Marie Ranjbar

Assistant Professor of Geography • Feminist political geography • Critical human rights • Theories of justice • Decolonial and postcolonial feminist theory • PhD Pennsylvania State University, 2017

Human Geography

Colleen Reid

Assistant Professor of Geography • Climate change and human health; Environmental and social epidemiology; Spatial exposure assessment • Faculty Research Associate of IBS • Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 2014

Human Geography • Environment-Society

Fernando Riosmena

Associate Professor of Geography • International migration; population geography; social demography, Latin America • Faculty of IBS • Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, 2005

Human Geography

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

Seth Spielman

Chief data strategy and analytics officer to the Office of Data Analytics and the Finance and Business Strategy (FBS) division • Associate Professor of Geography • Urban Geography, Medical Geography, Spatial Statistics, GIScience • Affiliate of IBS • Ph.D. State University of New York at Buffalo, 2008

Human Geography • GIS

William (Riebsame) Travis

Department Chair • Associate Professor of Geography • Natural hazards, risk, climate change, decision-making • Earth Lab Deputy Director Project Risk Principal Investigator • Ph.D. Clark University, 1981

Human Geography • Environment-Society

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

Tom Veblen

Distinguished Professor of Geography • Biogeography; Conservation • Distinguished Research Lecturer • Arts and Sciences College Professor of Distinction • Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 1975

Physical Geography

Emily Yeh

Professor of Geography • Nature/society geography; political ecology; cultural politics; development; Tibet; China • Associate Faculty of CAS • Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 2003

Human Geography • Environment-Society

People

Department Contacts by Function

Department Chair

Associate Chairs

Geography Advisors

All GEOG students are assigned an academic advisor. Find out who your advisor is by logging into MyCUHub. We prefer that you make appointments with your assigned advisor so that you can develop an ongoing relationship.