Richard is a PhD student in the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on developing spatially explicit mathematical models to assess the impacts of land cover and land use change on terrestrial carbon dynamics, integrating geospatial data, remote sensing, and machine learning. Through this work, he aims to advance understanding of climate–carbon interactions within coupled human–environment systems. Prior to joining UMD, Richard worked on a machine learning and GIS-based flood susceptibility model for the Greater Boston area. He holds an M.S. in Geography and Environment from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Michaelmary Chukwu is a PhD student in Geographical Sciences and Cartography at the University of Maryland, he completed a master’s degree in Geography from the University of Arkansas in 2025 while he holds a bachelor’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria in 2021. He is a student member of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), American Planning Association (APA), and Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS). Michaelmary’s research interests are in GIScience, urban mobility, spatial statistics, GeoAI, computational social science, urban studies, active transportation, and remote sensing. He has received recognition for his outstanding works including a national scholar award from the University of Arkansas and 3rd place student poster at southwest chapter of AAG. He has published seven papers with others under review, and he has served as a reviewer for esteemed journals including Urban Climate, Computational Urban Science (USC), International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 

Selected Publications

• Michaelmary Chukwu, Xiao Huang, Siqin Wang, Di Yang & Xinyue Ye (17 Jan 2025): Crowdsourcing geographic information for terrorism-related disaster awareness and mitigation: perspectives and challenges, Geo-spatial Information Science, DOI: 10.1080/10095020.2024.2442088.
• Aduloju, O. T., Anofi, A. O., Chukwu, M. T., Adeniran, I. A., & Adekunle, S. T. (2025). Space–Time Analysis of Urban Green Spaces’ Disappearance in Ilorin, Nigeria. The Professional Geographer, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2024.2435084.
• Michaelmary Chukwu, Xiao Huang, Siqin Wang, Xiao Li & Hanxue Wei. (2024): Urban Park accessibility assessment using human mobility data: a systematic review, Annals of GIS, DOI: 10.1080/19475683.2024.2341700.
• Siqin Wang, Xiao Huang, Pengyuan Liu, Mengxi Zhang, Filip Biljecki, Michaelmary Chukwu, ... (2024). Mapping the landscape and roadmap of geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) in quantitative human geography: An extensive systematic review. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2024.103734.
• Michaelmary Chukwu, Xiao Huang, Bo Peng & Isaac Oloruntimilehin (2023). Flood Risk Evaluation Using AHP‐Based Model and GIS Technique: A Case Study of Ethiope East and West Local Government Areas, Nigeria. Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-023-01786-x.
• Abdulraheem Orire, Ismail Orire, Ganiyu Amuda-Yusuf, Wasiu Raheem, Azeez Alade & Michaelmary Chukwu (2022). Urban green space accessibility in Ilorin city. International Journal of Real Estate Studies.
• Abdulraheem Orire, Xiao Huang, Orire Ismail, Oloyede Ayo, Wakeel Raheem & Michaelmary Chukwu (2022). Spatiotemporal change detection of builtup areas in Ilorin Metropolis: Implications for green space conservation. Journal of Applied Geography, DOI: 10.1080/23754931.2022.2062574.