Parveen Chhetri – Assistant Professor, California

What was your favorite class in K-12? Geography was my favorite class in K-12. I spent my early childhood in the lap of the Himalayas, wandering and pondering about the tall mountain peaks, deep river gorges, and diverse vegetation of my village environs. Geography helps me to understand several childhood queries regarding the steep topography, rivers and vegetation, which were integral part of my mountain village.
How did you first learn about and/or use GIS? I first learned about GIS through one of the workshops offered by my undergraduate university.

Name one thing you love about GIS and/or geography: I love spatial nature and wide applicability of GIS. I am a biogeographer and apply GIS to study how plants are distributed and how their distribution limit will shift with climate change.

Why did you want to volunteer as a GeoMentor? I want to share my GIS and Geography knowledge to K-12 students. I am particularly interested to demonstrate GIS and Geography application to understand and solve real word issues.

If someone asked you why they should learn about GIS and/or geography, how would you respond in one sentence? If anyone would like to understand the world better, they should learn GIS and Geography.

Website: https://www.csudh.edu/earth/
Twitter username: @parveenkchhetri