News People Students

People Spotlights are news stories centered on an INSTAAR member or group, rather than a science result or a community event. In many cases, the spotlight will focus on a person's latest award or special accomplishment.

Millie Spencer stands on the sunny summit of Cerro El Plomo (17,795 feet) in Central Chile.  Behind the rocky summit is a prominent glacier, with a background of mountain peaks with more glaciers and snowfields.  She is wearing a green jacket, blue knit hat, and mirrored glacier glasses

5 CU Boulder students, alumni receive 2024–25 Fulbright awards (CU Boulder Today)

May 7, 2024

PhD student Millie Spencer is 1 of 5 Fulbright awardees from CU Boulder. She will use her award to expand her work with Mapuche-Pehuenche communities in Chile: mapping glaciers, gathering oral histories of glacier retreat and hydrological change, and illuminating water insecurity.

Katie Gannon

Q&A with Katie Gannon, Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship winner

May 6, 2024

Incoming PhD student Katie Gannon (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) has garnered this year’s Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship. She will investigate greenhouse gas emissions from seasonally ice-covered lakes, working with advisor Bella Oleksy.

Katie Gannon

Katie Gannon is awarded the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship

April 2, 2024

INSTAAR is pleased to announce that incoming PhD student Katie Gannon is this year’s recipient of the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship. Gannon will work with advisor Bella Oleksy to explore murky questions around greenhouse gas emissions from seasonally ice-covered lakes.

George Aiken in the field, wearing a big backpack for carrying tall tubes.

Aiken Graduate Fellowships awarded

Sept. 19, 2023

INSTAAR is pleased to announce four George R. Aiken Graduate Fellowships for 2023. CU Boulder graduate students Mackensie Bowen, Allison Cook, Tim Higgins, and Millie Spencer received the awards, which come with funding to support their research over the next year.

A smiling Sara Padula holds a Chickadee in her hand

Q&A with Sara Padula, first recipient of the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship

July 14, 2023

We are proud to announce Sara Padula as the first recipient of the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship. The fellowship provides summer support for a graduate student researching Earth or environmental science in Arctic, Antarctic, or alpine regions. We caught up with Sara to ask about her research, her summer, and life as a scientist.

Jared Collins, Airy Peralta, and Brad Markle at the celebration of INSTAAR awards. Photo by Marisa Seitz.

Airy Peralta and Jared Collins garner first INSTAAR Graduate Community Awards

May 24, 2023

Airy Peralta and Jared Collins are the recipients of the first INSTAAR Graduate Community Awards. The award is a new honor that recognizes students who expend substantial effort in activities that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the INSTAAR community and as representatives of INSTAAR.

 Photo of Lina C. Pérez-Ángel

Lina C. Pérez-Ángel: Proud to study paleoclimate in Colombia (AGU EOS)

July 26, 2022

As a young Latina, Pérez-Ángel brings a fresh perspective to paleoclimatology. She's profiled in an AGU Eos feature.