Molly Miranker: Geography doctoral student receives prestigious award

Texas State University doctoral student Molly Miranker has received a P.E.O. Scholar Award for 2021-2022.

The $20,000 merit-based award recognizes and encourages academic excellence and achievement by women in doctoral-level programs and provides partial support for study and research.

Miranker is the second recipient from the Department of Geography and the fourth Texas State student to receive this award. Originally from San Francisco, Miranker explained that she is a human geographer “with interests in human migration, geoforensics, and humanitarian geographic information science.”

Dr. Alberto Giordano, professor in the Department of Geography, is Miranker’s advisor. “Her work on defining the scope, methods, and applications of Humanitarian GIS has the potential for leading to new and exciting research directions in both fields,” he said.

“My career goal is to become a researcher for a forensic and humanitarian institution, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, Physicians for Human Rights, or the United Nations — to address fatal human migration phenomena,” Miranker said.

Asked what she would want people to know about her studies, Miranker explained:  “I research issues of fatal human migration at international borders. Specifically, I study the ongoing humanitarian crisis along the Texas-Mexico border. I investigate migrant deaths, their sociopolitical context, and the ways geospatial technologies may aid identifications and improve forensic practice, including how affected families are treated.”

The P.E.O. Sisterhood, founded in 1869, at Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, is a philanthropic educational organization dedicated to supporting higher education for women. There are approximately 6,000 local chapters in the United States and Canada with nearly a quarter of a million active members.