Sandy Schilling Payne

Sandy Schilling Payne grew up in New Mexico and attended New Mexico State University, double-majoring in Journalism and Mass Communications and English. Upon graduation, she began working in the information technology field. Sandy has been researching her German ancestors off and on since 1994. Her research interests include historical geography related to genealogy and the settlement locations of Germans in the Russian Empire and their migrations to the present day. She is a founder and the author of the Germans from Russia Settlement Locations project. Her map data of German settlements has been incorporated into the website of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. Sandy has served in the past on the Germans from Russia Heritage Society’s Heritage Review editorial review board. She is currently the webmaster for the Glückstal Colonies Research Association and a member of the group Black Sea German Research.