Dr Sarah Schanz

I am an associate professor of geology at Colorado College with a specialty in geomorphology. At CC, I teach courses in physical geology, surface processes, and numerical modeling. I’m interested in creating in inclusive classroom environment that allows everyone equal, and rewarding, access to geology.

Before coming to CC, I was a postdoctoral researcher at Indiana University Bloomington and a PhD student at the University of Washington. My home state is Washington, and much of my research and teaching interests stem from growing up in a rural forest and going to school in a town built on an often-flooded floodplain. I love learning about the natural world and how it affects, and is affected by, human systems. My goal is to share that joy with students, and to help us all think critically about the landscape around us.

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Current lab members

Aden Berry – CC’27 (Geology)

Colorado hosts numerous rock glaciers but individual studies document order of magnitude changes in rock glacier velocity. Aden will be using remote sensing and image correlation to better understand the spatial and temporal variability in rock glacier speeds.

Emmaline Derry – CC’26 (Geology)

Emmaline is examining the role of rock damage and faulting on the formation and stability of knickpoints along the Clark Fork River in Montana.

Toby Fried – CC’26 (Geology)

Glaciers produce vast amounts of sediment, which can linger on the landscape and affect the postglacial fluvial response. Toby is quantifying the glacial lag on rivers in the Alaskan Chugach Mountains.

Avery Ordner – CC’26 (Geology, minor in Environmental Studies)

Fluids around the galaxy evidence sinuous natures; Avery is using GIS to understand how sinuosity of rivers in different materials can vary and whether there are unique signatures to sinuosity patterns in supraglacial, permafrost, alluvial, and bedrock channels.

Zoe Posner  – CC’27 (Mathematics, minor in Environmental Studies)

As temperatures warm, permafrost rivers experience shrubbification which is noted to slow meander migration rates. Zoe is using a numerical model — and providing some much needed improvements to the code and visualization — to see how shrubbification can affect shear stress partitioning and result in changes to meander rates and styles. 

Avery Rubins – CC’27 (Geology)

Semi-alluvial mountain rivers in Colorado host a plethora of native species; how is this habitat dependent on the geology and geologic history? Avery is examining the geomorphic and geochemical impacts of bedrock on stream habitat in tributaries to the Upper Arkansas River, CO.

Andy Sameshima – CC’26 (Geology / Film & Media Studies)

The towering heights of the Colorado Sangre de Cristo range reflect powerful glaciers, yet the glacial deposits vary strongly between basins. Andy is using field, GIS, and lab data to understand why neighboring streams of similar drainage areas have widely different glacial deposits.

Lev Sugerman-Brozan – CC’26 (Geology, minor in Environmental Studies)

Using remote sensing, mathematical models, and field work, Lev is investigating the timing and tempo of drainage reorganization in the Wet Mountains, CO. 

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Lab alumni

Nathaniel Cutler – CC’25 (Geology)

Nathaniel studies the organization of large wood deposited by avalanches. He is using field work and remote sensing to understand the wood jam complexes, the avalanche characteristics controlling wood jam formation, and the geomorphic valley controls on the jams. He presented initial results at a talk at GSA Connects 2024 in Anaheim, CA. 

Maya Mossamen – CC’25 (Geology)

Maya is using GIS surveys, USGS stream gage data, and interviews to understand how the Talkeetna, Susitna, and Chulitna rivers are responding to climate change and erosion mitigation structures. Her research project is self-designed and draws from Maya’s passion for her hometown of Talkeetna. 

Piper Kent – CC’23 (Geology)

Piper analyzed bedrock channel thalweg morphologies. They collected field surveys in bedrock meandering channels in California and Colorado, and are using those observations to guide a new channel geometry. Piper will compare this new geometry with previously used geometries in a bedrock-meandering model to assess how sensitive bedrock meandering is to thalweg geometry.

Spencer Shaw – CC’23 (Geology). Currently a MS student at CU Boulder working with Dr Eric Small

Spencer studied the effects of flow regime change on Fountain Creek, CO. Water input from trans-mountain diversions, combined with climate change, urbanization, and erosion control structures, has altered erosion and migration in Fountain Creek. How is Fountain Creek changing? How much of this is due to water diversions vs local effects?

Previously, Spencer worked on the impact of reservoirs on upstream channels, using West Elk Creek as a study area. 

Zhilin Shi – CC’23 (Geology). Currently a MS student at Texas A&M with Dr Andrew Moodie

Zhilin worked on lithologic influences on bedrock meandering. He used a numerical model to investigate how bedrock strength anisotropy influences the growth of meandering channels, particularly looking at sinuosity and channel cutoffs.

Kira Ratcliffe – CC’22 (Geology)

Kira studied sediment dynamics in the upper West Elk Creek, where she gathered field data on sediment size distribution and tested mathematical mixing models against field evidence. 

Sam Bower – CC’21 (Geology). MS at West Virginia University with Dr Shobe, currently Geospatial Coordinator at AtmoFacts

Peyton Colee – CC’21 (Geology).

Landslides, while a hazard to humans, can also bring sediment into rivers and nourish habitat. Peyton examined how numerous landslides in central Washington state contributed to the formation of salmon habitat. She created the first digital, detailed map of the landslides using GIS, and made a landslide timeline using surface roughness and radiocarbon dating. Her published paper can be found here: https://esurf.copernicus.org/articles/10/761/2022/esurf-10-761-2022.html

Nerissa Barling – CC’21 (Geology), co-advised with Dr Eric Bilderback, NPS. Now a PhD student at UC Santa Cruz, working with Dr Zimmer

Nerissa is working on understanding the geologic hazards around Kilauea after the 2018 eruption – and now the ongoing period of activity! Using displacement-meters she installed during summer 2020, Nerissa is analyzing how the surface displacement – indicative of landsliding and rock failure – is tied to temperature variation, wind speeds, and tilt from volcanic activity.