Current Research Team
Dr. Yan Wang
Director
Dr Wang’s interdisciplinary research explores the intersection of urban resilience and urban analytics. She seeks to answer how urban resilience can be measured, explained, and enhanced within built and digital communities, particularly focusing on the role of spatial planning and crisis informatics. As one of the founding faculty of the FIBER and the leadership team for the new Urban Analytics programs at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at DCP, her research, teaching, and service contribute to both the built environment resilience and AI initiatives significantly.
Shangde Gao
PhD Candidate
Shangde is a PhD student in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. He earned his Bachelor degree in Engineering Management at the Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China. His expertise includes urban land use analysis with ArcGIS, statistical analysis with Stata. His previous research experiences include construction project risk management, sustainable construction and green building. In his spare time, he enjoys watching movies and traveling.
Ziyi Guo is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a Master of Urban and Regional Planning after earning her Bachelor’s degree with a major in urban management. She interned in multiple planning agencies, including the China Academy of Urban Planning & Design. Her previous research experiences include dynamic analysis based on GIS visualization, affordable housing, etc. Her current research interests narrow to urban resilience, sustainable development, and urban informatics. She enjoys traveling and workout for fitness.
Silas Achidago, Master’s Student
Silas is a master’s student in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program at the University of Florida. He obtained his Bachelor’s in Human Settlement Planning at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. While in Ghana, he worked in the GIS unit of the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority. He currently works on a NASA/USAID funded project with a team of researchers from UF on the Ghana Land Use Project (GALUP). Silas is interested in pursuing his research in land use modelling and smart city development. He enjoys watching and playing soccer and basketball.
Graduated Students and Previous Research Team Contributors:
Haiyan Hao, PhD
Haiyan was a PhD student in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. After earning her master degree in Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech, she worked for Virginia Tech Transportation Institute as a research assistant. Her previous research experiences include data analysis using statistical and machine learning methods, GIS spatial analysis, transportation safety research, etc. Her current research interests include human mobility and sentiment, real-time urban events prediction, urban-scale multi-modal data analysis. In her spare time, she enjoys table games, manga and travel.
Fang Yao, PhD
Fang is a graduated PhD student in Urban and Regional Planning, and she also pursued her master’s degree in Computer Science at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on urban computing and land use modeling using machine learning techniques, especially natural language processing methods. She is an expert in Geographic Information System and python programming. She also has rich experience in data analysis and visualization. Fang enjoys traveling in her spare time.
Changjie Chen, PhD
Changjie was a PhD graduate in Design, Construction, and Planning. He earned his Master degrees in both Statistics and Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Florida. His research emphasizes on exploring future land-use alternatives through geospatial analysis and parallel computation. He is also interested in applications of machine learning algorithms to the integrated modeling of transportation and land use. His expertise includes land use analysis, Python in spatial analysis, R in statistical analysis, PostGIS/PostgreSQL Server and GIS Web Server. In his spare time, he enjoys basketball, soccer, video game, and guitar.
Lian Plass, Master Student
Lian is currently a MURP degree candidate at the University of Florida with an interest in brownfield/infill development and resilience-building. Prior to attending the University of Florida, Lian obtained a Bachelors of Arts in Sustainable Development from Columbia University, and served as Sustainability Administrator for the City of North Miami for approximately two years. In her free time, Lian enjoys cycling, running, and painting.