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Overview

 I am currently in pursuit of a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara. My goal is to utilize spatial sciences (GISc and remote sensing) to study walkability and green space access in urban areas as well as urban ecological resiliency. Another goal of mine is to introduce urban teens to the natural environment to help inspire others to pursue a career in sustainable fields.

Education

University of California, Santa Barbara                                                                            Santa Barbara, California

  • PhD in Geography; Advisor: Dr. Trisalyn Nelson                                                                   Expected June 2026

 

Lehman College (CUNY)                                                                                                                            Bronx, NY

  • M.S. in Geographic Information Science; Advisor: Dr. Yuri Gorokovich                                  Received May 2021

  • Thesis: An Application of the SLEUTH Model: Future Urbanization of Davidson County; (Link)

 

Trinity College                                                                                                                                         Hartford, CT

  • Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science                                                                                Received May 2019

   

Awards/
Honors

  • Christopherson Geosystems Award for Excellence in Applied Geography/Earth Systems at the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (APCG) Regional Meeting (October 2025)

  • Women’s Network Small Grant Recipient at the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (APCG) Regional Meeting (October 2025)

  • Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Recipient (2024)

  • AAG Council Award for Best (Graduate) Student Paper at a Regional Division Meeting

  • President’s Paper Award for Outstanding Doctoral Paper at the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (APCG) Regional Meeting (October 2023)

  • Eugene Hoerauf Scholarship Recipient at the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (APCG) Regional Meeting (October 2023)

  • Featured Geospatial Student Spotlight at eSpatially on July 2021 (https://espatiallynewyork.com/2021/07/06/geospatial-student-spotlight-caitlyn-jeri-linehan/)

  • Awarded 1st place for the Graduate Poster Session at the 2020 Middle States AAG

  • Featured Student Work of Lehman College’s Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geospatial Sciences (http://www.lehman.edu/academics/eggs/student-work.php)

  • Posse Foundation Full-Tuition Leadership Scholarship (2015-2019)

Publications

  1. Linehan, C.J., Nelson, T. (2026). The Uneven Geography of Outdoor Dining: Implications for Pedestrian Spaces (In progress)

  2. Linehan, C.J., Nelson, T. (2026). Who Gains, Who Loses? Equity Impacts of Park Closures and Open Streets (In progress)

  3. Linehan, C.J., Nelson, T., Dodge, S., Fast, V. (2026). A Systematic Review of Crowdsourced Pedestrian Data (In progress)

  4. Heidger, L., Nelson, T., Ferster, C., Linehan, C.J., Kedron, P., Dodge, S. (2026) Expanding Crowdsourced Data Modeling to Pedestrian Volumes (In progress)

  5. Linehan, C.J., Nelson, T., Cohen, A. (2025). Improving the denominators of bicyclist and pedestrian safety rankings (In progress)

  6. Linehan, C., & Nelson, T. (2025). Predictors of Biking Behavior Changes after a Safety Incident. Findings. https://findingspress.org/article/142431-predictors-of-biking-behavior-changes-after-a-safety-incident

  7. Linehan, C. J., Nelson, T., Bailey, C. V., Gel, E., Coonrod, D. V., & Roth, C. K. (2022). Sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 rates and equity impacts using labor and delivery patients in Phoenix, Arizona. Preventive Medicine Reports, 30, 102049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.102049

  8. Linehan, C. J. (2021). "An Application of the SLEUTH Model: Future Urbanization of Davidson County, Tennessee". CUNY Academic Works. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/le_etds/13

Talks and Presentations

Annual Meeting: Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, Santa Clarita, CA                                  October 2025

Title: Who Gains, Who Loses? Equity Impacts of Park Closures and Open Streets

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2025 American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Detroit, MI                                             March 2025

Title: A Systematic Review of Crowdsourced Pedestrian Data  

 

2024 American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Hilo, HI                                                  March 2024

Title: Improving the denominator of safety rankings for bicycle and pedestrian safety

 

Annual Meeting: Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, Ventura, CA                                          October 2023

Title: Improving the denominator of safety rankings for bicycle and pedestrian safety

 

Geography Colloquium, University of California, Santa Barbara                                                      November 2022

Title: Improving the representativeness of VGI (volunteered geographic information) data: a pedestrian mobility case study

 

Big Data Course, Macalester College, (Remote)                                                                         December 2020, 2021

Title: My Academic Journey

 

2nd Annual UCGIS Conference, (Remote)                                                                                             October 2021

Title: Using Labor and Delivery to Examine Population Disparities in the Covid-19 Pandemic

 

Environmental and Resource Science Colloquium, Nevada State College (Remote)                      September 2021

Title: Exploring the Many Facets of Greenspace

 

Showcase of Lehman GISc Students’ Capstone Projects (hosted by GISMO), (Remote)                           July 2021

Title: An Application of the SLEUTH Model: Future Urbanization of Davidson County, Tennessee.

 

2020 Annual GIS day (hosted by GISMO and CIESIN), (Remote)                                                   November 2020

Title: Accessibility and Connectivity of Bike Paths to Select Facilities for Bronx, NY Residents.

 

Annual Meeting: Middle States American Association of Geographers, (Remote)                            October 2020

Title: Accessibility and Connectivity of Bike Paths to Select Facilities for Bronx, NY Residents

Teaching and Mentoring

University of California, Santa Barbara                                                                           Santa Barbara, California

Instructor                                                                                                                                                 Summer 2025

Course: Geography W12: Maps and Spatial Reasoning

  • Redesigned the course and developed quiz, lab, and course material for a 6-week summer session

  • Led the laboratory portion of this course in which both labs and presentations were utilized to familiarize students with the various properties of maps

Teaching Assistant                                                                                                                       Fall 2023/Winter 2024

Course: Geography W12: Maps and Spatial Reasoning

  • Redesigned the course and developed quiz, lab, and course material for a 10 week quarter

  • Led the laboratory portion of this course in which both labs and presentations were utilized to familiarize students with the various properties of maps

Thesis Advisor                                                                                                                    September 2024- June 2025

  • Mentored Lainey Djajkusuma in her undergraduate thesis titled: Co-Benefits in Green Infrastructure Site Selection and Policy: A Case Study of Goleta, California

Teaching Assistant                                                                                                                                       Spring 2022

Course: Geography 5: People, Place, and the Environment

  • Led the section portion of this course for 76 students in which course assignments were introduced, exam material was reviewed, and lecture material was explored in more depth through the use of a discussion activity

Teaching Assistant                                                                                                                               Fall 2021/Winter 2022

Course: Geography W12: Maps and Spatial Reasoning

  • Led the laboratory portion of this course in which both labs and presentations were utilized to familiarize students with the various properties of maps

 

Lehman College (CUNY)                                                                                                                          Bronx, NY

Internship Advisor                                                                                                                   October 2023-June 2024

  • Advise an undergraduate student for a 13 hour a week/ 13 week internship in data entry, learning R/RStudio, and making ArcGIS Story maps and met with them weekly

 

LaGuardia Community College                                                                                                              Queens, NY

Adjunct Laboratory Instructor                                                                                          Summer 2020/Summer 2021

Course: SCG150 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems

  • Led the laboratory portion of this course in which both labs and presentations were utilized to familiarize students with the GIS software to accomplish course goals

  • Helped transition the curriculum to an online format due to COVID-19

 

Bronx Community College Geospatial Center of the CUNY CREST Institute                                   Bronx, NY

NSF-ATE Geospatial Workshop Instructor                                                                                 May 2019-August 2019

  • Taught high school workshops that aimed to give participants knowledge about spatial concepts, the ability to gain hands on skills, and meet experts in the geospatial industry

Summer Workforce Research Internship Mentor                                                                        June 2019- August 2019

  • Mentored seven Bronx high school students in a geospatial research project in which they compared the quality of life in various U.S. counties by using socioeconomic variables

  • Facilitated various career workshops to help prepare the students as they transition into their college careers by guiding them as they created their own career documents

Research and Work

Center for Spatial Studies and Data Science                                                              Santa Barbara, California

GIS for Journalism and Public Policy Fellow                                                                                  Summer 2025

  • Conduct GIS analysis to produce maps that are used in relevant opinion pieces

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University of California, Santa Barbara & Davis                                                      Santa Barbara, California

Research Assistant                                                                                            September 2021- November 2023

  • Estimate the amount of trips taken by active transportation modes across California counties and cities to address barriers to the safety of underserved road users such as pedestrians and bicyclists

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University of California, Santa Barbara                                                                     Santa Barbara, California

Research Assistant                                                                                            September 2021- November 2023

  • Estimate the amount of trips taken by active transportation modes across California counties and cities to address barriers to the safety of underserved road users such as pedestrians and bicyclists

Research Assistant                                                                                                      June 2021- September 2022

  • Analyze COVID-19 cases present in two hospitals within the labor and delivery department in Arizona to observe socioeconomic trends

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Esri                                                                                                                                       San Diego, California

Student Assistant at the 2022 User Conference                                                                     July 2022- July 2022

  • Aid Esri staff with conference registration, monitoring of workshops, and running of the Esri store

Lehman College (CUNY)                                                                                                                    Bronx, NY

Lab Tutor within the Department of Geospatial Sciences                                               January 2020-May 2021

  • Tutor an array of undergraduate and graduate students for eight hours a week in a wide range of GISc classes, from introductory to advanced

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Columbia University, Earth Institute, CIESIN                                                                           Palisades, NY

Intern                                                                                                                       August 2020- December 2020

  • Analyzed VIIRS nighttime lights data in both Oaxaca, Mexico and Nashville, TN to explore the relationship between nighttime luminescence imagery and population density

  • Digitized building outlines throughout New York State to assist in generating flood risk layers

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New Yorkers for Parks                                                                                                                Manhattan, NY

Research and Planning Intern                                                                                 September 2019-August 2020

  • Collected field data for the Brownsville, Brooklyn community in order to find alternative sites for community members to organize due to community center closures

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Trinity College                                                                                                                                  Hartford, CT

Center for Student Success: Career Development Intern                                                 August 2018-May 2019

  • Facilitated workshops and provided feedback on career topics such as LinkedIn, résumés, and cover letters

Trinfo Cafe: Computer Literacy Instructor                                                                      January 2016-May 2019

  • Taught beginning, intermediate, and advanced computer literacy classes to residents of Hartford and other patrons

  • Performed administrative duties in the café which provides technological resources and classes to Hartford residents

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Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx Zoo & Central Park Zoo                                            New York City, NY  

Visitor Research Assistant                                                                                                          May 2018-August 2018

  • Collected visitor data using surveys, interviews, and behavioral observations to evaluate visitors’ experiences

  • Worked independently and as a part of a team to utilize technology to analyze visitor data in order to portray visitors’ interest, motivations, and behaviors

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Semester in Environmental Science, Marine Biological Laboratory                                   Woods Hole, MA        

Independent Researcher                                                                                            September 2017-December 2017

Focus: Tracking the reallocation of NSC, Carbon, Nitrogen and relative Greenness of Quercus coccinea and Ilex opaca during senescence; Advisor: Dr. Mary Heskel

  • Tracked the reallocation of sugars, starches, carbon, and nitrogen and the decline of greenness on an individual leaf level and on the canopy level in the late season in deciduous and evergreen trees

Service

UCSB GIS Hiring Search Committee                                                                                            Santa Barbara, CA

Student Representative                                                                                                        September 2023 -   May 2024

  • Reviewed applications and interviewed applicants

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UCSB Graduate Student Advisory Committee for Department Chair                                       Santa Barbara, CA

Cohort Representative                                                                                                               September 2022 - Present

  • Gathered and presented feedback from my cohort in order to communicate the needs of my peers and serve as a bridge between students and the department chair

  • Developed an advisory survey to help collect feedback about graduate student experiences with their advisors

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Letters to a Pre-Scientist                                                                                                                                    Remote

STEM Professional                                                                                                                         August 2020-May 2021

  • Wrote letters to a middle school student from Chicago who is interested in STEM in order to help demystify STEM pathways and encourage them to explore interests of their own

Skills/
Training

Spatial Analysis: Familiarity with Remote Sensing Imagery, ArcMap, ArcPro, QGIS, Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP), Trimble Juno | Coding: R, Python (Intermediate) | Design: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop | Academic: City University of New York’s Academic Training: Teaching for Distance Learning due to COVID-19 (Summer 2020)

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