Nyla Thursday

Nyla holds a Bachelor of Arts from Western Washington University in geography, a certificate in GIS, and a minor in disaster risk reduction. Her Master of Science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison is in GIS and cartography.

Nyla supports CHDR research with geospatial analysis and cartography. She uses geospatial analysis to answer and ask questions related to research participant locations across their lifetimes and cartography as a method of communication.

Nyla’s background in community building and disaster response informs her geospatial approach. Working in pandemic response for a school district she was close to the impacts on students, their families, and staff members. Since schools provide not just education, but also love, nutrition, and health care, Nyla worked on teams to reduce health and resource disparities with a thoughtful geographic approach. The teams Nyla worked on provided resources where people were, in the language they spoke, and with great care. To Nyla, data is never just data – it is attached to lived experience.