The GeoDI team
Faculty PI
Dr. Di Zhu is a McKnight Land-Grant Professor and Assistant Professor of GIScience in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Society at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (UMN). Dr. Zhu holds a Ph.D. in Cartology and GIScience, a B.S. in Geographic Information Systems, and a B.Ec. in Economics, all from Peking University. As the director of Geospatial Data Intelligence (GeoDI) Lab, Di’s research bridges Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI), spatial networks, spatial statistics, and social sensing, focusing on the human-environment complexities within urban socioeconomics, mobility, transportation, and population systems. Beyond his primary appointment at UMN, Dr. Zhu is an executive committee member of the MGIS program, a core member at the Data Science and AI Hub, an affiliated faculty at the Minnesota Population Center (MPC), a CTS scholar at the Center for Transportation Studies, and an affiliated faculty at the CSE Data Science Initiatives (DSI). Dr. Zhu was a visiting lecturer at SpaceTimeLab, University College London before joining UMN. He has published in top venues such as IJGIS, AAAG, TGIS, GeoInformatica, CEUS, Scientific Data, ISPRS JPRS, TPAMI, ACM SIGKDD. He served as a panelist or reviewer for NSF CISE, HEGS, MMS and ES programs. He also served as a local chair or PC member for major international conferences and workshops, including ACM SIGSPATIAL, AAG, GISRUK, I-GUIDE forum, and GeoInformatics. He serves on the Research Committee of UCGIS and was a BOD member at CPGIS. His work has been recognized with prestigious academic accolades, including the McKnight Land-Grant Professorship at UMN, Rising Star Award of College GIS Forum in China, Top 20 WGDC 2022 Global Young Scientist, Early Career Award of GIS Research of the United Kingdom, Distinction of Doctoral Thesis of Peking University, etc. At UMN, Di teaches GIScience, spatial analysis and GeoAI.
Graduate Students
My name is Zhongfu Ma. I am a Ph.D. student in Geography at the Department of Geography, Environment and Society, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. My research interest mainly lies in spatial network and spatial process modeling. Before studying at UMN, I earned my bachelor degree at China University of Geosciences, China.
Jacob Harris
My name is Jacob Harris and I am a graduate student in the Department of Geography, Environment and Society. Some of my research interests include human-environment systems, transportation & mobility, urban socioeconomics, renewable energy, and sustainability as analyzed through spatial statistics, econometric modeling, and GeoAI. Prior to joining the GeoDI lab, I earned my Master of Science in Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota where I researched climate economics in the NatCap TEEMs lab group.
I am Sheng Wang, a graduate student in GeoDI Lab, Department of Geography, Society and Environment, supervised by Prof. Di Zhu. My research of interests includes Urban Transfer Learning, Human Mobility and Spatio-temporal Prediction. Before joining the GeoDI, I got my M.S. in Geographic Information Systems from East China Normal University (Shanghai, China) and B.S. in Geographical Information Science with a minor in Computer Science in Anhui University (Hefei, China).
I am Meicheng Xiong, a phd student in GeoDI lab. My research interests mainly involve GIS, human mobility, and social sensing based on big data. I earned my master's degree at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China.
MGIS Students
Ziliang Jin
I am Ziliang Jin and I am a Master of Geographic Information Science (MGIS) student at the University of Minnesota with a background in Environmental Science. My work focuses on using GIS, remote sensing, and spatial analysis to study urban growth and land use change. I currently work as an Environmental Chemist with Washington County, applying geospatial and environmental data to support sustainable planning and environmental management.
Undergraduate Students
Mathias Kreuziger
I am Mathias Kreuziger and I am an undergraduate student in the Department of Geography, Environment and Society at the University of Minnesota. I'm interested in researching rural and urban human mobility, transportation and socioeconomics using large spatial data and spatial statistics. My research is supported by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at UMN.
Shawn Li
Hi I am Shawn Li, an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota majoring in Mathematics, with an interest in the Great Lakes region. I am curious about connections between economic activity, environment, and place, and I am also interested in natural phenomena such as the northern lights. My research is supported by the Dean’s First-Year Research and Creative Scholars (DFRACS) Program.
Alumni
Rob Hendrickson
I am Rob, a MGIS alumni at GeoDI Lab, Department of Geography, Society, and Environment, I graduated in 2022. I currently work at Macalester College as a GIS Lab Manager & Instructor. I am also a Gardener!
Gene Cheng
I am Gene(Ziying) Cheng, a MGIS alumni at GeoDI Lab, Department of Geography, Society, and Environment, I graduated in 2021. I currently worked at GeoComm as a GIS technician.