Marcela Zeballos Editor

Patricia Solís, PhD, is Executive Director of the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience at Arizona State University, a campus-wide effort to link multi-sector community needs with research innovations in building community resilience. She is Associate Research Professor of Geography in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning. As designer, Co-Founder and Director of YouthMappers, she helped spark a rapidly-growing consortium of student-led chapters on more than 300 university campuses in 65+ countries who create and use open spatial data for humanitarian and development needs. Previously, she was Co-Director of the Center for Geospatial Technology at Texas Tech University and Research Associate Professor of Geography in the Department of Geosciences and affiliated with the TTU Climate Science Center. She served as Deputy Director and Director of Research at the American Association of Geographers and is a current National Councillor. Dr. Solís focuses her research on applications of open geospatial technologies to address socially relevant challenges, from water resource conflict to climate change induced hazards to broadening participation in higher education. Her creative leadership has resulted in the development of collaborative and participatory methodologies, youth-engaged peer exchanges, and institutionalization of multi-sector partnerships centered on using digital geographic technologies for public value. Her efforts have been recognized by the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and with honors from geographic disciplinary societies.  She currently serves as the President of the PanAmerican Institute for Geography and History of the Organization of American States, the first woman elected to this scientific diplomacy position. Dr. Solís received a BS in Physics, BA in German, and MA in Geography from Kansas State University and earned her Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Iowa where she was a Presidential Fellow.

Marcela Zeballos is Research Associate in the Center for Geospatial Technology at Texas Tech University, and is the Managing Director of YouthMappers, a global community of university students and faculty who are filling crucial geospatial data gaps in collaboration with local organizations and agencies to increase visibility of their needs and resources. Her work centers on creating inclusive spaces for student participation and executing intentional programming aimed at balancing privilege dynamics to expand youth contributions. She values connecting with people and building community. Since 2012 she has worked on U.S. federally-funded initiatives in support of sustainability, education, and youth leadership impacting beneficiaries worldwide. In 2019, she became a voting member of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT). Ms. Zeballos received a BA in Geography and a BA in International Affairs from The George Washington University.