People

Yingjie Hu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University at Buffalo (UB). He is also an affiliated faculty with the UB AI and Data Science Institute. His major research area is in GIScience and more specifically GeoAI. He holds a PhD from the Department of Geography at UC Santa Barbara. He received his MS and BS degrees from East China Normal University. He is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed articles in top international journals and conferences. He and his work received awards at international, national, and university levels, including Waldo-Tobler Young Researcher Award, GIScience 2018 Best Full Paper Award, UB Exceptional Scholar: Young Investigator Award, Jack and Laura Dangermond GIS Graduate Fellow Award, Doctoral Scholarship from the Cartography and Geographic Information Society, National Award for Outstanding Chinese PhD Students Studying Abroad, AAG International Geographic Information Fund Award, and UCSB Geography Excellence in Research Award. His research was also covered by major media such as CNN, NPR, Reuters, and VOA News. He is passionate about doing GIScience research, training the next generation’s GIS leaders, and serving the GIS community.

Tev’ye Davis is a master student in the Department of Geography, University at Buffalo. He obtained his B.S. in Urban and Reginal Planning from the University of Technology, Jamaica. His research interest are remote sensing, artificial intelligence in GIS and urban planning, with a particular focus how we can extract meaningful geospatial data from the public to make better decisions.

Gaurish Lakhanpal is a student at Stevenson High School (graduating in 2023). He works as a research intern in the GeoAI Lab. He’s interested in exploring the world of GeoAI, specifically looking at spatial bias in data. In his free time he enjoys programming, writing poetry, and collecting fountain pens.

Wei Liu is a master student in the Department of Geography, University at Buffalo. She applies GIS methods to address the problems concerning social equity. She received her B.S. from the School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University with the major in geographical science. She once worked as a research assistant on urban and land use planning with local institutions. Her passion is mainly about serving the public with GIS technologies and popularizing GIS knowledge.

Yue Ma is a master student in the Department of Geography, University at Buffalo. She completed her B.S. in Geographical Information Science at Wuhan University, and another B.S. in Finance at Wuhan University. She was an exchange student at the University of St Andrews in 2019. Her research interest focuses on urban analytics and the geographical pattern of human behaviors.

Ryan Zhenqi Zhou is a PhD student in the Department of Geography at the University at Buffalo (UB). His research focuses on health outcome prediction and understanding, by integrating human mobility data, geospatial image data, and existing AI models. He is interested in GeoAI, Public Health, Urban Analytics, Social Media, and Big Data.

Aleema H Arastu is a master student in the Department of Geography at the University at Buffalo. She previously completed her undergraduate studies at the University at Buffalo, receiving a B.S. in Geographic Information Science as well as a B.A. in International Studies with a focus on Asia and a minor in Korean language and culture. Before her undergraduate studies, she received certification in veterinary science. She is interested in applications of GIS to climate science, ecosystem biodiversity, and sustainable communities.

Ting Chang completed her M.S. in GIScience in Summer 2021. During her study in the GeoAI Lab, she focused on using human mobility data and machine learning for understanding alcohol outlet visits and alcohol-related harms.

Kai Sun was a visiting PhD student in the GeoAI Lab from 2019 to 2021. During his visit, he focused on building geographic knowledge graphs from historical maps for improving the use of geographic information from historical maps.

Jimin Wang completed his M.S. in GIScience in Summer 2020. During his study in the GeoAI Lab, he focused on developing GeoAI models for extracting location descriptions from social media messages posted during natural disasters.

Dale Sherman completed his B.S. in GIScience in Summer 2017. He worked with Dr. Hu during his undergraduate study on GIS.

Dylan Witucki completed his B.S. in GIScience in Summer 2017. He worked with Dr. Hu during his undergraduate study on GIS.