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New Cohort of PhD Scholars Ready to Embark on Geographical Sciences Critical Questions

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  • New Cohort of PhD Scholars Ready To Embark On Geographical Sciences Critical Questions
Photo collage of PhD students headshots

With great excitement, we introduce the latest wave of brilliant minds joining our Ph.D. program.

Hailing from Oregon, USA, to Ningbo, China, these students share a common drive: to dedicate the next years of their lives to gaining a better understanding of the world we live in.

Get inspired by their passion for geographical sciences!

 

Adebowale headshot

Adebowale Daniel Adebayo

Call me: Adebowale

My city, country: Ekiti, Nigeria

My research topic: Food and Water Security Nexus with methods in Earth Observations and AI

My advisor: Catherine Nakalembe

My educational background: BTech. Remote Sensing and GIS, Federal University of Akure, Nigeria,  MS. Erasmus Mundus Copernicus Master in Digital Earth (GeoData Science Track) [University of Salzburg, Austria & Université de Bretagne Sud, Vannes, France]

What attracted me to geographical sciences: "Everything is related to everything else..." - Tobler's first law of geography. First, the art and science of location intelligence, and second, the vast applications of remote sensing products to humanity.

What I like to do when I am not studying: swimming, Jigsaw puzzles (smaller pieces because of time), traveling, trying new food and music


Mohammmad headshot

Mohammad Aghdami Nia 

Call me: Mohammad

My city, country: Tabriz, Iran

My research topic: Lidar Remote Sensing and AI

My advisor: Ralph Dubayah

My educational background: B.Sc. Geomatics Engineering, University of Tabriz, Iran

M.Sc. Remote Sensing, University of Tehran, Iran

What attracted me to geographical sciences: Remote sensing and its applications

What I like to do when I am not studying: Playing guitar, listening to music, hiking


Abena headshotAbena Boatemaa Asare-Ansah

Call me: Abena

My city, country: Accra, Ghana

My research topic: Mapping Agricultural LCLUC Dynamics and Green Infrastructure using Geospatial Techniques

My advisor: Catherine Nakalembe

My educational background: BS, Geomatic Engineering at KNUST, Ghana & MS, Urban Forestry at SUBR, Louisiana, USA

What attracted me to geographical sciences: The broad research in Remote Sensing and GIS

What I like to do when I am not studying: Cooking, listening to music 


Kangyang headshotKangyang Chai

Call me: /kaŋ jaŋ/ in IPA

My city, country: Ningbo, China

My research topic: Artificial Intelligence methods related to spatial data and remote sensing image

My advisor: Yiqun Xie

My educational background:  BS, Geographical Information Science at Zhejiang University.

What attracted me to geographical sciences: There are numerous challenges to be solved in the field of geospatial analysis, and many prevailing mainstream methods appear less than optimal.

What I like to do when I am not studying: Cycling, cooking, sampling the delicacies from various restaurants, watching Premier League and I enjoy trying new activities.


Xin headshotXin Dong

Call me: Xin

My city, country: Xinyang, China

My research topic: Spatial Health, Malaria Analysis

My advisor: Kathleen Stewart

My educational background: MS, GIS and Application; BS, Surveying and Mapping

What attracted me to geographical sciences: Geospatial health is an important issue related to people's health and needs to be explored.

What I like to do when I am not studying: Swimming, traveling, listening to music


Robyn headshotRobyn Burnett

Call me: Robyn Burnett 

My city, country: Maryland, USA

My research topic: Education, Whole Population Studies

My advisor: Laixiang Sun

My educational background: BS-Economics Villanova, MS Economics-The New School, Additional work at: McDaniel College,  ICEP-Europe

What attracted me to geographical sciences: GS is a methodology for bringing information together based on location. It is generally the last thing considered in education research, which is a problem as education is primarily delivered based on a students location. 

What I like to do when I am not studying: I crochet, A LOT. (My instagram is all just my crochet and mushrooms). I have a great community I live in. We have a Mah Jongg Club and an Arts and Crafts club I participate in as well. I like to travel (mostly road trips) with my family, so I can get out of the car and tromp around in the woods/mountains. I am a bit sports obsessed, NCAA Basketball in particular (proud member of the NovaNation). 


Atreyi headshotAtreyi Guin

Call me: Atreyi (Ah-tray-ee)

My city, country:  Kolkata, India

My research topic: Land use land cover change, data visualization

My advisor: Matt Hansen

My educational background: MS Environmental Science, GIS Certificate at University of Michigan Dearborn

What attracted me to geographical sciences: The power of communicating complex spatial datasets through stunning maps and visuals which helps the community.

What I like to do when I am not studying: I love to dance! I also like traveling and trying out new restaurants :)


Shuyu headshotShuyu Jin

Call me: Shuyu

My city, country: Chongqing, China

My research topic: Climate Change Adaptation, Public Health, Disaster Resilience

My advisor: Giovanni Baiocchi

My educational background:BS Geographical Science, MS GIS

What attracted me to geographical sciences: Geographical Sciences encompass both natural and cultural interactions. When intertwined with concepts of location, space, and scale, they guide the choice between broad or micro-level research. This fascination drives my interest in Geographical Sciences.

What I like to do when I am not studying: Travel, listening to music


Adebowale headshotYue Ma

Call me: Yue

My city, country: Zhengzhou, China

My research topic: energy mapping, deep learning

My advisor: Xiaopeng Song

My educational background: M.S.The State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.; B.S.Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China; B.Ec.Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China

What attracted me to geographical sciences: An interesting way to explore the world

What I like to do when I am not studying: Reading, watching movies


Triet headshotTriet Nguyen

Call me: Triet

My city, country:  Oregon, USA

My research topic: Flood risk assessment and mitigation

My advisor: Kuishuang Feng

My educational background: BS Finance - Portland State University; MS Applied Economics - Johns Hopkins University

What attracted me to geographical sciences: Many societal problems and their solutions require mapping to the real-world context, which Geographical Science offers. Moreover, the often resulting maps are great at communicating to the people impacted by the problem, who most likely cannot analyze facts and data in the same way a scientist can.

What I like to do when I am not studying: Learning about music, playing guitar


Wen headshotWen Qi

Call me: Wen

My city, country: Zhengzhou, China 

My research topic: Human lifestyle impact on environment

My advisor: Giovanni Baiocchi 

My educational background: BS Finance Hunan Univ, Ms Finance UMD/Shanghai Univ of Fin&Econ

What attracted me to geographical sciences: Climate change, environment protection

What I like to do when I am not studying: Traveling


Jiaxun headshotJiaxun Sun

Call me: Jiaxun/Jason

My city, country: Weihai, China

My research topic: Sustainable development cities

My advisor: Kuishuang Feng

My educational background: MS Environmental Science, Fudan University

BA Controlled Environment Agriculture Science & Engineering, China Agricultural University

What attracted me to geographical sciences: Future research coupled with GIS, economics, environmental issues and society

What I like to do when I am not studying: Traveling, hiking, basketball, volleyball


Ruichen headshotRuichen Wang

Call me: Ruichen

My city, country: Beijing, China 

My research topic: AI for improving remote sensing data and social good. 

My advisor: Yiqun Xie

My educational background: BS Environmental Science

What attracted me to geographical sciences: The potential of our cutting-edge technology has grown significantly, positioning us favorably to address social and environmental issues through the application of Geographical Science. By harnessing the state-of-the-art capabilities of artificial intelligence along with comprehensive geographical data, I am eager to elevate the standards of social welfare and environmental betterment.

What I like to do when I am not studying: Gardening, hiking


Shi Jun headshotShi Jun Wee

Call me: Shi Jun

My city, country: Singapore, Singapore

My research topic: Integrate optical and radar remote sensing data for LCLUC (e.g. crop, forest change) monitoring, with a focus in the tropics.

My advisor: Xiaopeng Song

My educational background: BS (Hons) in Environmental Earth Systems Science (Geoscience specialization)

What attracted me to geographical sciences: Remote sensing presents us with an excellent opportunity to observe the earth at unprecedented resolutions. I wish to harness this rapidly evolving technology to better understand and address the most pressing environmental issues affecting us today.

What I like to do when I am not studying: Netflix, cycling, reading, improving my cooking


Adebowale headshotMatthew Luke Wertis

Call me: Luke

My city, country: Boone, USA

My research topic: LiDAR and forest monitoring applications of LiDAR and other remote sensing instruments 

My advisor: Ralph Dubayah

My educational background: BS in Applied Physics, MA in Geography

What attracted me to geographical sciences: GIS and data science

What I like to do when I am not studying: Rock climbing, reading

 

Images: Courtesy of our new cohort of Ph.D. students

Published on Tue, 08/29/2023 - 20:50

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