Mykael Pineda Awarded UROP Grant
Undergraduate student Mykael Pineda was awarded an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Individual Grant for her project, “Climate Sensitive Post-Fire Management.” She will be co-mentored by Holly Barnard and GEOG Alum Teresa Chapman from The Nature Conservancy. Mykael will be using this work as the basis of her honors thesis.
Mykael will be using GIS mapping technology to determine the accessibility of seedling planting sites by foot and reports she is "grateful for the opportunity and optimistic about what the future holds!"
Anila Narayana Awarded UROP Grant
Congratulations to CU Geography undergraduate Anila Narayana! She was awarded an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Individual Grant for the Summer 2021 term to work on the project “Food for Thought: Examining Intersections between Urban Gardening, Mental Health, and Food Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic” under the mentorship of Azita Ranjbar.
The aim of this research project is to determine how participation in urban gardens impacts food insecurity and mental health in underserved Denver communities, as well as to understand spatial patterns between food deserts and mental health services in the area.
Zac Clement Awarded UROP Grant
Congratulations to CU Geography undergraduate Zac Clement! He was awarded an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Individual Grant for the 21-22 academic year to work on his research project "Constructing 'Home': Undergraduate Housing Insecurity in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic" under the mentorship of Azita Ranjbar.
The project aims to get a better grasp on how undergraduate students have experienced housing insecurity throughout the past year, which he'll be using to write his Geography honor's thesis.
Jessica Voveris Wins the Thompson Award First Prize in the Graduate Memoir category
The Center of the American West hosted a Zoom event to celebrate the 22nd annual Thompson Awards on April 28th, 2021. In this intimate early evening gathering, judges from each category introduced both the winners and the honorable mentions. The ‘audience’ then listened to the authors read excerpts and show video clips from their winning entries. The creators’ intellect, talent, and passion were on full display.
Jessica's essay, "Into the Lab but Born Out of the Frontier: A Scientist's Journey Growing Up in the American West," can be read in its entirety in the News & Events section of the Geography website. It was awarded first prize in the Graduate Memoir category.
Xiaoling Chen received an SWG Evelyn L. Pruitt National Fellowship for Dissertation Research
Xiaoling Chen was awarded a Society of Woman Geographers Evelyn L. Pruitt National Fellowship for Dissertation Research for 2021-2022. This grant will support her dissertation fieldwork during the 2021-2022 academic year. She will conduct an ethnographic study in China on the impacts of health care reform and examine the transformation of medical practices and identities among public healthcare professionals.
Xiaoling is a PhD student in Geography. She is advised by Dr. Tim Oakes. She also received generous support for her field research from the Geography Department through the Jennifer Dinaburg Memorial Research Award and the Solstice Graduate Research Award, and from CU Boulder through the Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grant award and the Center to Advance Research and Teaching in the Social Sciences (CARTSS).
Shruthi Jagadeesh Wins Graduate Part Time Instructor Appreciation Award
Shruthi Jagadeesh has been selected as a recipient of a Spring 2021 Graduate Part Time Instructor Appreciation Award. The Geography department nominated her for this award in recognition of how she has risen to the challenges presented by teaching during the pandemic.
A PhD student of Geography, Shruthi received an MA from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2020. Her interests include Political Ecology, development, indigenous communities, and conservation. She is advised by Mara Goldman.
Jessica DiCarlo Receives 2021 Summer Graduate School Fellowship
Jessica DiCarlo was selected as a recipient of the 2021 Summer Graduate School Fellowship. The Geography department nominated her for this Fellowship to support her dissertation writing. Her project, Steel Silk Roads and the Making of the Infrastructure Frontier is an ethnographic study on the Laos-China Railroad that examines China's growing global presence through infrastructure.
Jessica is a PhD candidate in Geography. She received her Master's degree from the University of California Berkeley in 2016. Her interests span critical development studies, political ecology, and infrastructure studies. She is advised by Dr. Emily Yeh, Professor and Chair of the Geography Department.
With the generous support of donors and the CU Boulder community, the Graduate School offers awards, grants, and fellowships that support the outstanding research, creative work, and teaching of our graduate students.
Phurwa Dhondup Published in Geoforum Journal
Phurwa Gurung published a sole-authored article titled "Challenging Infrastructural Orthodoxies: Political and Economic Geographies of a Himalayan Road" in the geography journal Geoforum.
Based on research in Humla district in northwest Nepal, the article challenges the “infrastructural orthodoxy” that posits the region’s food insecurity to be the direct result of geographical remoteness and the lack of a motorable road. Instead, it analyzes how road building can increase vulnerability rather than resolving food insecurity, leading to the proletarianization of wage workers and increased dependence on distant markets for the reproduction of local social lives.