Millie Spencer

CUAHSI August e-Newsletter Community Guest Spotlight with Millie Spencer

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 14:04:49 +0000

CUAHSI August e-Newsletter Community Guest Spotlight with Millie Spencer Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 08/18/2025 - 08:04

Copied for archival purposes from Cuahsi.org

August e-Newsletter Community Guest Spotlight with Millie Spencer

Posted Aug 12, 2025

Combining Local Knowledge and Western Sciences to Analyze Glacier Retreat and Water Security in South-Central Chile

Millie Spencer, PhD Candidate, University of Colorado, Boulder, CUAHSI Pathfinder Awardee 2024

The CUAHSI Pathfinder Award enabled me to travel throughout south-central Chile for five months, where I conducted uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys of volcanic glaciers, and interviews with individuals living downstream of the glaciers. My interdisciplinary project aims to create a more complete picture of glacier retreat and its downstream impacts on water security, when compared to conventional hydrological studies that rely exclusively on remote sensing and computer modeling.

During peak melt season, from February-March 2025, I hiked several volcanoes in south-central Chile and flew UAV to measure the current surface area of glaciers. In addition to updating regional glacier inventories, this fieldwork enabled me to identify unique processes that are not discussed in local scientific literature to date, such as the presence of undocumented debris-covered glaciers and the influence of volcanic eruptions on glacier melt. I plan to integrate my UAV measurements in a hydro-glaciological model to forecast how historic and continued glacier retreat will impact the timing and volume of water availability downstream.

Once snowfall began, I shifted my focus to interviewing community members living downstream of these glaciers. I interviewed people ranging from Indigenous elders to city water managers and ecotourism guides. My questions sought to illuminate their perspectives of glacier retreat and hydroclimatic change in the region. While some alpine mountain guides shared perspectives on glacier change, the majority of those interviewed did not have personal experience with glaciers. Instead, most interview subjects spoke on broader environmental and hydrological change. Interviewees agreed that water insecurity is growing in the region, in part due to accelerating glacier retreat and less predictable precipitation, but also due to population growth and growing water demands of tree plantations. Many interviewees spoke on concerns surrounding the infiltration of non-native pine and eucalyptus species in native Araucaria (or pewen, in the Mapuche language of Mapundungun) forests. Others shared observations that snow fell less frequently and stuck around for less time. Smaller rural community members shared experiences of historic water sources (mainly springs near their homes) drying up, forcing them to begin purchasing water from municipalities or water tankers for the first time.

In essence, my interviews illuminated that observations of hydrological change were abundant, while those specific to glacier change were scarce. This finding is helpful to inform how future scientific studies, including my own work, should better frame glacier change in the context of water security. Rather than simply reporting rates of glacier retreat in technical units and jargon, researchers should frame glacier change in the context of how it impacts the timing and volume of water availability to communities downstream.

I am enormously grateful to the CUAHSI Pathfinder Award for enabling me to conduct this research, and look forward to sharing further results soon!

Combining Local Knowledge and Western Sciences to Analyze Glacier Retreat and Water Security in South-Central Chile

Millie Spencer, PhD Candidate, University of Colorado, Boulder, CUAHSI Pathfinder Awardee 2024

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Millie Spencer Studying Glacier Retreat in Chile

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:35:36 +0000

Millie Spencer Studying Glacier Retreat in Chile Gabriela Rocha Sales Mon, 04/28/2025 - 13:35

My name is Millie Spencer, and I am a 3rd year PhD candidate in the Geography Department. I am currently on a Fulbright Award studying glacier retreat and its downstream impacts in south-central Chile. Hosted jointly by the University of Chile’s Civil Engineering Department and Indigenous Peoples Program, my work integrates glacier field measurements, glacier-hydrological modeling, and semi-structured interviews with periglacial communities. This approach seeks to bridge scientific methods with Indigenous and local knowledge, recognizing community memory as a critical resource for understanding climate change and informing adaptation strategies.

The first month and a half of my time here in Chile has been a whirlwind. The season to safely and accurately measure glaciers here in Chile is February-April, so I am working hard to hike to as many glaciers as possible before winter begins in full force. Accompanied by my generous colleagues here in Chile, we are hiking a chain of stratovolcanoes in south-central Chile to fly uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) and build digital elevation models of the glaciers. These models enable us to compute the volume loss of the glaciers over time.

In March, I spent two days camping at the base of Glaciar Nevado with my colleague Robert Clasings. The hike to Glaciar Nevado is an arduous 8 miles up volcanic sand dunes and lahars. However, our gorgeous camp near a waterfall with a view of the glacier above made the effort worthwhile. This mission enabled us to map the entire glacier, including a debris covered portion that was previously unidentified by scientists.

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Millie Spencer awarded Fulbright Fellowship 2024-2025

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2024 16:48:56 +0000

Millie Spencer awarded Fulbright Fellowship 2024-2025 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/07/2024 - 10:48

Millie Spencer has been awarded the 2024-2025 Fulbright-Nehru Research Fellowship.

She is currently doing field work in Concepción, Chile, analyzing glacier retreat and its impacts on downstream communities in south-central Chile.

The Chile Fulbright Science Initiative will enable her to expand her existing research in Chile further south to the region of Araucanía, where she plans to work with Mapuche-Pehuenche communities to document oral histories of glacier retreat and hydrological change, and illuminate how water insecurity disproportionately impacts Indigenous peoples.

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Welcome to Our Fall 2022 Graduate �鶹��Ժ

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 21:52:27 +0000

Welcome to Our Fall 2022 Graduate �鶹��Ժ Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/07/2022 - 14:52

Please join us in welcoming our incoming graduates for Fall 2022!

Back row: Millie Spenser, Priscilla (Pris) Corbett, Drolma Gadou, Briana Prado, Emma Barrett, Denise Mondragon, Mia Murray, Taylor O’Brien, Nathan Korinek, Ethan Carr; Middle row: Alaric Kothapally, Michele Lissoni, Aja Procita, Nic Tarasewicz, Patrick (Pat) Saylor, Isaiah Lyons-Galante; Front row: Sam Fixler, Jiacheng (Raymond) Zhou; Insert: Jill Adler Grano

Featured Updates

Isaiah Lyons-Galante

Originally from Boston, I went to Yale for a bachelor's degree in physics and mechanical engineering. With an interest in sustainable development internationally, I found my way to Kenya where I worked for 6 years with a start-up developing renewable energy projects in rural, off-grid areas. There, I learned about the power of remote sensing, GIS, and machine learning to study remote areas and make data-driven decisions. This brought me to CU in the Geography department to dive into geospatial data science, working with Morteza Karimzadeh in his GeoHuman AI Lab. I am interested in finding ways to apply statistics and deep learning models to remotely-sensed data to study remote regions of the world and to understand which factors lead to economic growth and well-being in harmony with the environment.

Nic Tarasewicz

I was raised in the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, which started my interest in alpine environments. I completed my undergraduate degree in Geography from the University of Denver, and my Master’s in Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science at Lund University, Sweden. While there, I developed a novel composite indicator representing the impact of modeled forest management practices on ecosystem services. My research interests center around understanding climate and anthropogenic impacts on mountain ecosystem services through combining empirical measurements and modeling. I am working with Peter Blanken on INSTAAR’s Ecosystem Resilience Project, led by Keith Musselman, aiming to define and project climate-change refugia in the Colorado Front Range. My hobbies include spending time outdoors, performance art, and playing board games with friends.

Ethan Carr

Growing up my greatest memories we’re visiting national parks with my family and learning about plants, animals, and the environment. As I grew up I never lost that passion and knew I wanted to make a career around being outdoors and learning.

I received my Bachelors of Science in Physical Geography from the United States Military Academy, where I was a four year varsity athlete. Upon graduation I was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Infantry. I recently changed career paths and knew that I wanted to make a difference in the world. I decided to combine my passion for nature, especially the Arctic, and my goals to make change and pursue a career in the natural sciences. The CU Geography department seemed like the perfect place to begin this journey.

I hope to focus in Glaciology and Climate change specifically in Greenland. Upon finishing my masters I wish to pursue a PhD in a similar field.

Briana Prado

My name is Briana Prado, I am from San Diego, California, and studied Chemistry and Earth Science at UC Santa Cruz. I will be studying geochemistry and chemical weathering in the McMurdo Dry Valleys under Dr. Melissa Diaz. I am super stoked to be in Boulder, CO, and spend time outside hiking and biking and experiencing a true winter.

This past summer I sharpened my U.S geography skills while cycling across the country from Baltimore MD to San Francisco, CA with a group of 23 cyclists to raise funds for a cancer charity. The tour took us through 11 different states and 7 national parks over 70 days. We transverse mountain ranges such as the Appalachians, Rockies, and Sierra Nevada Mountains, and crossed the Mississippi, Missouri, and Colorado Rivers.

Fun Fact: I visited CU Boulder for the first time during the bike ride when we had a rest day in Boulder. This was the day before biked before heading into Estes Park through highway 34 and then biking into Rocky Mountain National Park and climbing trail ridge!

I had so much fun that I would 100% do it again. These days you’ll probably catch me riding my red single-speed bike called Tessie around campus.

Photos from Briana's Cross-country Cycling Trip

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