People

 

Yingjie Hu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University at Buffalo (UB). He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and an Affiliate Professor of 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 60 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. 

 

 

Gaurish Lakhanpal is an incoming undergraduate in Computer Science at Purdue University. He was a student at Stevenson High School (graduated in Spring 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.

 

Kai Sun is a Postdoc Associate in the GeoAI Lab. Previously, he was a visiting PhD student in the GeoAI Lab from 2019 to 2021. He obtained his B.S. from Wuhan University and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His current research focuses on using GeoAI approaches for disaster management.

 

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 previously worked as a research assistant on urban and land use planning with local institutions. Her passion is in serving the public with GIS technologies and popularizing GIS knowledge.

 

Ryan Zhenqi Zhou is a PhD student in the Department of Geography at the University at Buffalo (UB). He is interested in GeoAI, Disaster Resilience, Public Health, Urban Analytics, and Human Mobility.

 

 

 

 

Yue Ma completed her M.S. in GIScience in Spring 2023. During her study in the GeoAI Lab, she focused on using GeoAI to forecast vegetation dynamics in a global biodiversity hotspot, the Cape Floristic Region in South Africa. After graduation, she joins the University of Maryland College Park as a PhD student.

 

Tev’ye Davis completed his M.S. in GIScience in Spring 2023. During his study in the GeoAI Lab, he focused on developing his technical skills in GIS, remote sensing, and machine learning. After graduation, he joins the Osmose Utilities company as a GIS specialist.

 

Aleema H Arastu completed her B.S. in GIScience by taking multiple courses with Dr. Hu, including Intro to GIS, Web-based GIS, and GIS and Machine Learning. She is interested in using GIS to address challenges in 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.

 

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.