Lisa Kelley
Assistant Professor
Geography and Environmental Sciences

Mailing Address:
Dept. of Geography & Environmental Sciences
Campus Box 172
P.O. Box 173364
Denver, CO 80217-3364

Physical Location:
Auraria Campus
North Classroom Building
Room 3016

My work is situated in the field of critical physical geography, and combines theories and methods from political ecology, critical agrarian studies, and remote sensing to understand ongoing land and livelihood transformations. I have a longstanding interest in questions of agrarian and forest change in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, where my research has explored dynamics of commodity expansion, forest conflict, and state territorialization, among other themes. New work also more closely engages with climate change and vulnerability, including through projects in Hawaiʻi and Nicaragua. I have a strong interest in integrative, interdisciplinary human-environmental change work and would love to connect with you if you are working on shared themes. I welcome notes from potential students and collaborators and invite you to learn more about my research and teaching here.

I received my PhD in 2017 from UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management as member of the Land Lab and the Potts Lab. I also hold a BA, magna cum laude, in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University, where I was awarded the 2008 Leslie Kilham Johnson Prize for Research Excellence. Before joining the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado at Denver, I worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography & Environment at the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa.