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My name is Hannah Escareno and I received my BA in Geography in 2023. Today, I am a geospatial analyst by profession, while in my free time, I’m an avid rock climber and violist with an affinity for crochet, analog photography, and poodles! Growing up, playing viola music by composers from around the world inspired a deep fascination for international cultures, while my love for animals led to a fascination with the environmental sciences. These are lifelong passions of mine and my college years were no different. However, it was not until it came time to take my gen-ed science courses and I discovered the Geography department at ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ, that I realized I could combine these two passions into a degree. 

I will always remember my time as a student in the geography department fondly. From playing GeoGuessr with the geography club, to late nights in the KESDA lab, and everything in between. Though the coronavirus pandemic changed my and my classmates’ college experiences completely and presented great challenges, overcoming these challenges was made possible with the support of the people that make this department what it is. Our faculty truly personifies the joy of learning and discovery. They say it takes a village and I’m lucky to have found mine in the community at ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Geography. 

Following my graduation from ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Boulder, I completed a brief contract with the Macroecology Lab at the department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona in coalition with the Santa Fe Institute as an assistant researcher conducting dendrologic land surveying out of the Mountain Research Station in Nederland, Colorado. The research conducted sought to advance towards a more predictive understanding of biodiversity and ecology by deepening our understanding of how organisms interact with each other and their environment. Today, I am a full-time geospatial analyst. In my day to day, I get to work with satellite data from all over the world to conduct imagery analysis and information extraction using GIS software. It is extremely fulfilling to see a culmination of my geography education come together as I launch my career as a young professional, and I am excited to see what the future has in store as I continue learning and growing as a geographer!  

The accompanying 35mm photos are from the field!