Student Advising

I have been advising PhD, MS, and undergraduate students. I have advised four PhD students and 18 MS students in Geography or Environmental Resources & Policy programs as a committee chair, and served as a committee member for over 20 other graduate students from a broad spectrum of majors, such as Civil and Environmental Engineering, Plant Biology, Public Health, Sociology, and Zoology

I expect new students with excellent programming experience (e.g., Python and Java) and advanced skills in deep learning (e.g., CNN, RNN, and GNN) and geospatial analysis (e.g., GPU Cyberinfrastructure, and Google Earth Engine), hydrological modeling (e.g., MODFLOW, and SWAT), and advanced statistical skills (e.g., SEM). Students are expected to employ interdisciplinary and data-intensive methods to solve challenging geographic, social and environmental problems.  If you are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, I strongly encourage you to consider applying for NSF Graduate Fellowship that is due in October each year. I can provide some guidance.

Student Achievement

Several of my students have earned competitive awards and grants under my mentorship, and many are now embarking on promising academic careers. For example:

D. Wu, 2024, Research Associate at the University of Colorado - Boulder

S. Thapa, 2024, Assistant Professor (tenure-track) at Northeastern State University

M. Edidem, 2023, NSF I-GUIDE Summer School Scholarship

D. Wu, 2022, Graduate School Doctoral Fellowship

A. Naliaka, 2022, AAG Summer Graduate Intern (the sole recipient for AAG)

A. Naliaka, 2021, North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) student research grant

S. Bhadra, 2020, David G. Arey Memorial Award

J. Liew, 2019, SIU GPSC Research Award; ESRI User Conference Travel Award

D. Wu, 2018,  Illinois Water Resources Center Small Water grant