Sara is a climber and designer from Austin, TX. Sara earned her Master of Fine Arts in Communication Design from Texas State University in San Marcos, TX in Summer 2020. She started climbing in 2016 when she went back to school for her master’s and decided to pursue competitive climbing as a member of Texas State University Climbing Team.

In 2018 and 2019, Sara competed at the USA Climbing Collegiate National Championships. In 2021 and 2022, she competed at the Yeti Climbing National Championship. In 2023, she competed in speed climbing at the USA Climbing Team Trials where she came in 11th place. Her favorite places to climb are at Shelf Road in Colorado, local Austin crags, and Yosemite National Park.

Sara’s love for the outdoors has led her to work on improving environmental experiences for users by analyzing current hiking trail signage systems and using best design practices to improve those systems. She loves learning and enjoys working on projects where research is the foundation for the solution.

“I firmly believe that biomimicry is going to change the world and how we solve complex challenges as designers. I think designers have an ethical responsibility to create sustainable technologies for the future of our planet without creating harm to the natural world.”

Sara has presented her research at the 108th Annual CAA Conference in Chicago, IL, 50th Annual UCDA Design Conference, and the 2020 SEGD Academic Summit.

She is currently training for the upcoming climbing season and working on research for improving hiking wayfinding systems, specifically in the U.S. National Parks. Her goal is to design a universal hiking wayfinding system for the National Park Service to be used throughout all parks in the United States.