People

My name is Tong Qin. I am a postdoctoral researcher in the GISense Lab within the Department of Geography and the Environment at UT Austin. My research lies at the intersection of spatial cognition, neurocognitive geography, and human-centered GeoAI. My work examines the cognitive mechanisms that shape human perception, attention, and navigation in geographic and urban environments, and uses empirical evidence about these mechanisms to develop cognition-informed computational models. I earned my Ph.D. in Geomatics and Surveying from Ghent University, my M.Sc. in Cartography and Geographic Information Systems from Beijing Normal University, and my B.Sc. in Geographic Information Science from China University of Mining and Technology.

My name is Haofeng Tan. I am a Ph.D. student in GIScience at the Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, co-supervised by Prof. Susan Wang and Prof. Yuhao Kang. My current research interests mainly focus on exploring human perceptions, emotions, and cognition of places through advanced GeoAI methods, especially Generative AI. I majored in Cartography and Geographic Information System for my master’s degree at Wuhan University and Geoinformatics for my bachelor’s degree at Chongqing University.

My name is Somang Kim. I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography and the Environment at UT Austin. I am passionate about addressing urban challenges through GeoAI, emphasizing human–environment relationships in places, and contributing to the creation of safe and sustainable cities. Currently, I am working on integrating human brain activity and generative AI to explore people’s geographic imagination. I earned my B.A. and M.A. in Geography from Ewha Womans University.

Xiaoyu Li is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography and the Environment at The University of Texas at Austin. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Beijing Forestry University in 2025. His previous research focused on vegetation dynamics, ecosystem health, and land-use classification using multi-source remote sensing data. His current research centers on urban noise monitoring and prediction. He is also interested in integrating neuroscience-informed and AI-based approaches to better understand human perception of geographic environments.

My name is Maanya Chugh and I am a junior from New Jersey at The University of Texas at Austin, pursuing a B.S. in Information Technology with a specialization in Human-Centered Data Science. I am currently working on AI-driven urban safety research, developing multimodal models that integrate soundscapes, visual data, and geospatial analysis to explore how people perceive safety in different environments. My research background includes building AI agents and automating large-scale data pipelines. Beyond the lab, I have interned in enterprise AI governance and audit analytics, contributed to ethical technology initiatives, and published work on algorithmic fairness. My broader interests lie at the intersection of geospatial AI, human-centered design, and ethical innovation.

My name is Rithvik Chintha, and I am an undergraduate student at The University of Texas at Austin pursuing a B.S.A. in Neuroscience with a certificate in Elements of Computing. As a member of the GISense Lab, I use fMRI data to investigate how individuals perceive their surrounding environments. I design experiments using PsychoPy and conduct literature reviews to evaluate and refine existing methodologies in this area. My research interests focus on applying computational techniques to decode neuroimaging data and better understand how the human brain processes environmental information.

My name is Diya Pyata, and I am an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin pursuing a B.S. in Neuroscience and a minor in Statistics and Data Science. As a member of the GISense Lab, I am utilizing fMRI to investigate how people perceive safety in public spaces, specifically focusing on Street-View Based Safety Ratings. My work on this study is funded by the Undergraduate Research Fellowship. I am also working on fine-tuning deep learning architectures and synthesizing computational neuroscience literature to optimize neural dataset performance. My research interests lie in leveraging neuroimaging and data science to decode how the physical environment shapes human perception and cognition. Beyond the lab, I serve as a mentor for the EvoDevOmics FRI Program, where I lead transcriptomic data analysis.

I’m Shi-Tao Chang, an undergraduate at The University of Texas at Austin majoring in Computer Science and Linguistics and minoring in Geography. My interests sit at the intersection of computer vision, cartography, and geospatial intelligence. To that end, I took a geography course to learn the datelines and maybe use a sextant, and I aim to deepen my understanding of the world through my academic career. At the GISense Lab, I contribute to multimodal GeoAI research by reproducing and fine-tuning baseline models, developing and evaluating raw video datasets, and engineering multimodal EEG analysis for human-centered applications.

My name is Ben Nguyen, an undergraduate at UT Austin majoring in Public Affairs at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Within geography and urban design, I’m interested in the built environment and how GIS can help better visualize the world around us. At the GISense Lab, I mainly focus on building maps to visualize how social and economic conditions affect educational outcomes in Texas. More broadly, my interests mainly lie in how public policy can facilitate and change human behavior.

My name is Harini Champooranan, and I’m an undergraduate at The University of Texas at Austin pursuing a B.S. in Statistics and Data Science with a minor in Business and a certificate in Computer Science. At the GISense Lab, I contribute to multimodal AI research focused on understanding human perceptions of urban environments, exploring how vision-language models and fine-tuning techniques can be used to assess perceived urban safety from street-view imagery. More broadly, my interests span artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science, with a focus on applying emerging technologies to understand real-world problems and build solutions with meaningful human impact.

Junbo is a first-year M.S. student in the Department of Geography and Sustainability at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Currently, he is a member of the GRIND Lab (Geospatial Responsible AI for Nature–Human Dynamics Lab) and the GISense Lab (Geospatial Intelligent Sensing and Mapping Lab). His interests lie in GeoAI (Geospatial Artificial Intelligence), with an emphasis on building foundation models and investigating their applications in natural hazard/disaster studies and human-centered representations of environmental perception.

Ji Sun is a second-year M.S. student at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), specializing in spatial data analysis and urban policy. As a visiting scholar (2025) at GISense Lab, she focused on analyzing accessibility to maternal healthcare facilities in Texas.

Shiyun is a third-year Master of Landscape Architecture student with a computer science background at Texas A&M University, where her work sits at the intersection of landscape architecture, spatial analysis, and emerging technologies. Her research focuses on how urban spatial systems shape environmental exposure, accessibility, and human perception, with particular emphasis on climate vulnerability, green space equity, and the experiential quality of urban environments. By integrating GIS, street-level sensing, machine learning, and digital twin technologies, her work examines how hidden spatial processes—such as heat exposure, perceived safety, and environmental inequality—are unevenly distributed across cities, and how these insights can inform more resilient, equitable, and human-centered planning and design.

Xiaohao Yang is a Ph.D. student in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His educational background spans landscape design, spatial data science, and human–computer interaction, and his previous research focused on climate vulnerability and coastal resilience. He is interested in supporting human-centered design with GeoAI and in developing open-source tools. His recent research examines how environmental conditions—including urban greenspace accessibility, acoustic and visual experience, and urban blight—shape human experience and public health in cities.

My name is Xuechun Yu. I hold a Master of Urban Design from The University of Hong Kong and spent three years working as an urban planner. During that time, I worked on child-friendly city initiatives, including UNICEF-commissioned projects. My planning experience shaped my interest in how urban environments influence people’s experiences and well-being, particularly across different population groups. My research interests lie at the intersection of human-centered GeoAI, multimodal urban sensing, and urban planning. I use urban imagery, soundscapes, and geospatial data to examine how people perceive and experience urban environments. I am interested in using GeoAI to better understand human–environment interactions and support more human-centered and equitable urban planning and design.