Graduate Research

Students pursuing a master's or PhD benefit from research-focused programs in areas of faculty expertise. Field experiences abound in our tight-knit community, and many students have the opportunity to publish or present their research at the annual American Association of Geographers meeting each spring.

  • Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses & Capstones (2019-2020)

    PhD (Geography):

    Nikolai Alvarado, The Strategies of Non-citizen Migrants to Secure Housing and Services in Urban Informal Settlements in the Global South. (Taylor)

    Joshua Baldwin, Urban Green Space: Mitigator or Multiplier of Inequality in the Denver Metropolitan Area. (Sutton)

    Xuantong Wang, Using Multi-Source Data to Assess the Dynamics of Socioeconomic Development in Africa. (Sutton)

    MA (Geography):

    Brandon Bailey, Rock Glacier Development in the San Juan Mountains. (Daniels)

    Chris Hancock, Spatial and Temporal Controls on Streamflow Variability in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado. (Daniels)

    MIchael Madin, Climate Change and Seed Security Among Smallholder Farmers in Ghana. (Nyantakyi-Frimpong)

    MS (Geographic Information Science):

    Lauren Allognon, A Spatial Approach to Agricultural Challenges in West Africa. (Hick)

    Taylor Barnes, Spatial Analysis of Bird-caused Wildfires, Land Use and Land Cover and Ecoregions in the Contiguous United States. (Hick)

    Jordan Bretthauer, WebGIS and Hazard Visualization in Small Towns. (Sutton)

    Lucas Brown, Mapping and Assessing the Sidewalks of Camp Amache. (Sullivan)

    Glenn Burnett, Spatial Analysis of Greater Houston Metropolitan Area’s Urban Expansion with Respect to Flooding. (Hick)

    Jeff Cappellucci, Development of an Interactive GIS Dashboard for Transportation Energy Analysis. (Hick)

    Alex Chamberlain, Wildfire Analysis in Salt Lake County Using GIS Overlay Mapping Techniques. (Trigoso)

    Rachel Chunn, A GIS Analysis of Marine Mammal Strandings and Harmful Algal Blooms in Scotland from 2007 to 2017. (Hick)

    Juanita Corea, Measuring Spatial Accessibility for Texas Veterans to Veterans Nursing Homes in Texas. (Hick)

    Wil DeLany, Remote Sensing Urban Agricultural Suitability of Vacant Lots in Detroit, MI. (Powell)

    Amanda Drinkard, Colorado Gray Wolf Habitat Suitability Analysis for Reintroduction and Effects on Other Threatened or Endangered Species Using GIS. (Hick)

    Matt Hugel, Using Big Spatial Data to Clarify the Effects of Infrastructure on Accessibility. (Goetz)

    Jeff Lewis, Implementation Plan for the Analysis of the Forests of Santa Cruz Island, CA Using LiDAR and GIS. (Hick)

    Mason Lovaas, S Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Analysis for Wind Farm Site Suitability in Montana. (Hick)

    Patrick Mason, Irrigation: Enhancing Asset Management and Using GIS to Increase Efficiency in the City of College Station, TX. (Hick)

    David McDonald, Central Place Theory and Specialty Retail: Game Stores in the Colorado Front Range; Is There Room for Growth? (Hick)

    Lorraine Metz, Creating a Simple Scenario Tool for What-If Analysis of SPARROW Data in the 2012 SPARROW Models Web Mapping Applications. (Hick)

    Hayley Miller, Using Geospatial Artificial Intelligence for Road Feature Detection. (Sutton)

    Casey Muirhead, Spatial Analysis of Fort Berthold Indian Reservation’s Boundary Spacing Oil Wells. (Hick)

    David Peters, Advancing Municipal Water Utilities with GIS – A Bloomington, IL Case Study. (Hick)

    James Porter, Using GIS to Select Prairie Dog Habitat in Taos County, New Mexico. (Hick)

    John Rolf, Using NDVI-Equipped UAVs to Detect Monongahela Cultural Remains in Southwestern Pennsylvania. (Hick)

    Natasha Sanders, Using GIS to Analyze Swallow-Tailed Kite Movements in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. (Hick)

    Sophie-Min Thomson, An Exploration of the Use of UAVS for the Benefit of a Small Town in Colorado: A Case Study for the Town of Morrison. (Sutton)

    Luke Winters, Mapping High-Elevation Wetlands in Colorado Using Object-Oriented Remote Sensing. (Powell)

    Erick Yokomizo, Mapping Mountain Public Lands for Entertainment Production Companies in Colorado – A GIS Analysis. (Hick)

    Ryan Young, A Spatial Assessment of Ecosystem Service Change in Espírito Santo, Brazil for Landscape Restoration Opportunities. (Hick)

Funding & Support

  • Grant Application Support

    DU's Office of Sponsored Research & Programs (ORSP) can help you through the process of applying for research funding from federal, non-federal and internal sources.

    ORSP

  • Graduate Student Resources

    The Office of Graduate Studies offers several centrally-funded awards as well as workshops and resources for students involved in research.

  • Professional Development Grants

    Graduate Student Professional Development Grants provide financial support for conference presentations, exhibitions and performances, thesis and dissertation-related expenses and travel fares.

    Learn More