2024 PhD Graduates Address Climate Change, Urban Dynamics, and Technological Advances
The field of geographical sciences continues to evolve, with new research shedding light on critical environmental, social and spatial issues. This year, a fresh cohort of PhD graduates has emerged, bringing innovative perspectives and research to the forefront.
Here, we share some of 2024’s dissertation defenses.
Abdul Qadir, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “A Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)-Based Generalized Approach for Sunflower Mapping and Area Estimation”
Elisabeth Powell, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “Revealing the Impact of Sea Level Rise on Coastal Forest Structure in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic Using Lidar”
Guimin Zhu, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “Spatiotemporal Analysis of Vehicle Mobility Patterns Using Machine Learning Approaches”
Jamis M. Bruening, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “Advances in Mapping Forest Biomass and Old-Growth Conditions Using Waveform Lidar”
Tuo Feng, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “Characterizing the Multi-scale Post-fire Forest Structural Change in North American Boreal Forests Using Air- and Space-borne Lidar Observations”
Jiaming Lu, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “Integrated Monitoring of Disturbance and Forest Attributes”
Mengyu Liang, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “Monitoring Aboveground Biomass in Forest Conservation and Restoration Areas Using GEDI and Optical Data Fusion”
Noel Dyer, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “Visualization, Data Quality, and Scale in Composite Bathymetric Data Generalization ”
Ruohan Li, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “Deep Learning Approaches for Estimating and Forecasting Surface Downward Shortwave Radiation From Satellite Data”
Samuel M. Jantz, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “Multiscale, Multitemporal Assessment of Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes) Habitat Using Remotely Sensed Datasets”
Xin Xu, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “Topology-Based Individual Tree Mapping From Lidar Point Clouds”
Xueyuan Gao, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “Exploring and Assessing Land-Based Climate Solutions Using Earth Observations, Earth System Models, and Integrated Assessment Models”
Yunting Song, Ph.D ‘24
Dissertation Title: “Efficient Terrain Analysis of Point Cloud Datasets on a Decomposition-Based Data Representation”
As these scholars embark on the next phase of their careers, their contributions will undoubtedly continue to make a significant impact on the world.
Main image: Photo collage of the dissertation defenses of Elisabeth Powell, Yunting Song, Noel Dyer, Tuo Feng and Mengyu Liang. Courtesy of Geographical Sciences students and professors.
