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Faculty Articles
Jennifer Fluri: Message from the Chair, Spring 2022
The spring semester began with in-person classes and masks on. This eventually transitioned to masks optional, and we ended the semester with our first in-person graduation since 2019. The Geography Department’s graduation celebration included students from previous years along with the 2022 graduating class. It was wonderful to see students...
John O'Loughlin: Russia's Attack on Ukraine
Ukrainian servicemen get ready to repel an attack in Ukraine's Lugansk region on February 24, 2022. ANATOLII STEPANOV In the early morning hours of February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin launched his attack on Ukraine – or as Ukrainians put it, started the re-invasion of Ukraine. The first invasion dates from...
Increasing Diversity in Partnership with the American Geophysical Union
In 2019, the American Geophysical Union joined the Inclusive Graduate Education Network and initiated the AGU Bridge Program. The AGU Bridge Program creates the opportunity for individuals historically marginalized and underrepresented in geoscience to apply to graduate school departments that have demonstrated a commitment to diversity and inclusive excellence. In...
Colleen Reid: Public Health Impacts of Wildfire
Dr. Colleen Reid , an assistant professor in Geography, has published many studies that research the air quality and associated health impacts of wildfire events. Due to this expertise, after the Marshall Fire which ignited on December 30, 2021 just outside of Boulder and destroyed over 1000 buildings in Boulder...
Student Updates
Xiaoling Chen: Ethnographic research of hospital space in China
Xiaoling Chen, PhD Candidate, Geography Department, University of Colorado Boulder “For the People’s Health”: Transforming Hospital Spaces, Recasting Medical Expertise Ling is a coastal, hilly county in Southern China with a humid and semi-tropical climate. Although having a population of over one million, it is at times considered rural, with...
Behzad Vahedi Update
This past February, I received the Outstanding Student Presentation Award (OSPA) from the American Geophysical Union (AGU) for his presentation at the AGU Fall Meeting 2021. According to the AGU, "this honor is awarded for only the most exceptional presentations during AGU Fall Meeting 2021." I am a PhD student...
Alumni Updates
Pam Showalter, PhD 1993
I taught at the University of Toledo, then Texas State University, retiring in 2010 as an Associate Professor with numerous peer-reviewed articles and a co-edited book, "Geospatial Techniques in Urban Hazard and Disaster Analysis" under my belt. My retirement coincided with the start of a new, five-year journey, during which...
Xi Wang, PhD 2021
Xi Wang (Ph.D. 2021), Assistant Professor, Institute for Energy Studies and Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, Western Washington University I completed my Ph.D. in Geography at the University of Colorado () Boulder in May of 2021, while the world was still quite unsure what was happening with the COVID-19...
Katie Clifford, PhD 2019
I graduated from with a PhD in Geography in December 2019. My dissertation research combined approaches from natural hazards, climate adaptation, political ecology, and science and technology studies (STS) to understand why emerging environmental and climatic hazards remain invisible and unmanaged. Specifically, I explored how and why western dust...
Jessica DiCarlo, PhD 2021
Chevalier Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Transportation and Development in China Institute for Asian Research, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs University of British Columbia After moving from the California coast to the Rocky Mountains to the karsts of northern Laos, I’m thrilled to return to the Pacific and be...
Alana Wilson, PhD 2017
Alana Wilson : I completed my Ph.D. in Geography at Boulder in December 2017, having done hydrochemistry and cryosphere related research with Mark Williams and Noah Molotch , and with Jennifer Fluri supporting a social science component to my water work. The combination of cryosphere-related research and an increasingly...
Donor Support
Thank You! The Department of Geography is grateful to its alumni and friends for their financial support over the years. Our donors have had a big impact, making a difference not only to the Department as a whole, but to the lives of many individual students. As we strive for...