Maria Lane is a historical geographer specializing in environmental knowledge claims, with a focus on how maps, science, and stories shape, challenge, and legitimize human-environment understandings. Her research examines the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, emphasizing the American Southwest, the Spanish & British Caribbean, and the arid landscapes of Mars—regions deeply entangled with colonial histories.

Her work critically engages with the responsibilities of North American settler scholars, interrogating the ways knowledge production has contributed to Indigenous displacement and exploring pathways to address the persistent inequalities of settler colonialism. As an educator and researcher, she fosters reflective scholarship that examines the motivations, techniques, and power structures within historical geography and environmental history.

At the University of New Mexico, Lane serves as Dean of Graduate Studies and plays an active role in academic leadership as the convener of the Standing Committee of the International Conference of Historical Geographers and as past/founding director of the R.H. Mallory Center for Community Geography in the Department of Geography & Environmental Studies.

While not currently accepting students, she encourages those interested in historical geography and environmental studies to explore the research pages of other faculty in the Department of Geography & Environmental Studies at UNM.