{"nodes":[{"node":{"nid":"80856","title":"SPARC GIScience Lecture Series","campus":"Tempe campus","locations":"Coor Hall 5519","college_unit":"School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Spatial Analysis Research Center, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences","department":"","field_cost_value":"Free","event_price_level":"Free","asu_events_price_desc":"Free","body_summary":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELecture Title: \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAdvancing Spatial Decision Support: From Participatory GIS \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","full_body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELecture Title: \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAdvancing Spatial Decision Support: From Participatory GIS to CyberGeoAI\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESpeaker: \u003C\/strong\u003EZhe Zhang, Associate Professor, Texas A\u0026amp;M University\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the Talk: \u003C\/strong\u003ECoastal communities are facing increasing vulnerability to natural disasters and environmental challenges, including stronger hurricanes, flooding and pressures on fisheries. Addressing these issues is important for protecting local populations and enhancing the sustainable growth of the Blue Economy. This presentation examines how geospatial technologies, particularly participatory GIS and explainable GeoAI can enhance disaster management. Topics will include case studies of participatory GIS applications in disaster management, followed by a transition to data-driven methods for developing path-faithful explainable GeoAI for decision support. By integrating causality model, our approaches enable a deeper understanding of how specific locations, time periods and variables interact to shape predictive AI outcomes. The presentation will conclude with an overview of a newly funded NSF CyberTraining project, which aims to build a global training network for applying GeoAI in disaster management.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESpeaker Bio: \u003C\/strong\u003EZhe Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Geography at Texas A\u0026amp;M University, with joint appointments in the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Texas A\u0026amp;M Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center. Zhang has served as Chair of the Cyberinfrastructure Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers, elected to the Board of Directors of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society, and serves as Chair of the Research Committee of the University Consortium for GIS. Her research focuses on developing spatial decision support systems by integrating advanced cyberinfrastructure, GeoAI and participatory design to address critical challenges in disaster management and sustainability. Her work has been funded by the NSF, NASA, USDOT, NOAA and the National Geographic Society. Zhang serves as the Co-PI of the Texas A\u0026amp;M FASTER High-Performance Supercomputer and as a Co-Investigator of the Texas A\u0026amp;M ACES Supercomputer. Zhang serves as PI on eight externally funded grants, totaling over $3 million. Zhang has received \u0026nbsp;the Pathways Award from Texas A\u0026amp;M Faculty Affairs, the NSF CAREER Award, and the Distinguished Contribution Award from Women in GIS and Esri.\u003C\/p\u003E","phone":"","contactname":"WenWen Li","email":"wenwen@asu.edu","delta":"0","alias":"https:\/\/asuevents.asu.edu\/event\/sparc-giscience-lecture-series-0?id=0","ticketing_rsvp_txt":"Zoom","ticketing_rsvp_txt2":"","ticketing_rsvp_url":"https:\/\/asu.zoom.us\/j\/81860923147","ticketing_rsvp_url2":"","website":"https:\/\/sparc.asu.edu\/","image_url":"https:\/\/asuevents.asu.edu\/sites\/g\/files\/litvpz3506\/files\/2026-07\/ASU%20EVENT%20SPARC%20GIScience%20Lecture_9%204%2026_Zhe%20Zhang%20%281%29.jpg","image_alt":"","image_title":"","start_date":"Sep 4 2026 - 1:00pm","end_date":"Sep 4 2026 - 2:00pm","time_description":"","very_start_date":"2026-09-04T13:00:00Z","very_end_date":"2026-09-04T14:00:00Z","event_types":"Lecture","interests":"Artificial Intelligence|Environment|Graduate students|Interdisciplinary|Lectures|Social science","audiences":"For current ASU students|For faculty|For international students","event_units":"School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning|Spatial Analysis Research Center|The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences","event_topics":"Academic events|Science","download":"","event_map_url":"","event_map_title":"","event_video":"","location_term":"Tempe campus","venue_address":"975 S. Myrtle Ave","venue_city":"Tempe","venue_state":"AZ","venue_zip":"85281","alias-indexed":"https:\/\/asuevents.asu.edu\/event\/sparc-giscience-lecture-series-0?id=0","sport_tag":"","game_type":"","subtitle":"","season":"","athletic_conference":"","tv_network":"","radio_station":"","wear_color":"","game_theme":"","history":"","history_text":"","related_stories":"","related_stories_text":"","game_notes":"","game_notes_text":"","recap_link":"","recap_link_text":"","live_stats":"","live_stats_text":"","game_time_tba":"No","sda_all_day":"No","opponent_logo":"","related_videos":"","related_videos_text":"","recurring":"no"}},{"node":{"nid":"83451","title":"SPARC GIScience Lecture Series: From Backpacking to Academia","campus":"Tempe campus","locations":"Coor Hall 5519","college_unit":"School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Spatial Analysis Research Center, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences","department":"","field_cost_value":"Free","event_price_level":"Free","asu_events_price_desc":"Free","body_summary":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELecture Title: \u003C\/strong\u003EFrom Backpacking to Academia: \u003Cspan\u003EHow life beyond academia shap\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","full_body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELecture Title: \u003C\/strong\u003EFrom Backpacking to Academia: \u003Cspan\u003EHow life beyond academia shaped people skills and academic success in a global career pathway\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESpeaker: \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/spatial\/profile\/siqin-sisi-wang\/\u0022\u003ESiqin (Sisi) Wang\u003C\/a\u003E, Associate Professor of Spatial Sciences, University of Southern California\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the Talk: \u003C\/strong\u003EThis talk explores how experiences and interests outside academia, including backpacking, volunteering, travel photography and exploring different cultures, have unexpectedly shaped and strengthened Sisi Wang\u2019s academic career. These experiences helped her develop skills in communication, relationship building, leadership, networking and cross-cultural collaboration.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESisi has traveled to nearly 100 countries and taken five career gap years, working in more than 20 types of jobs and roles across government, technology, filmmaking and academia. She will share how traveling, volunteering, working across industries and building relationships with people from diverse backgrounds have helped her take on leadership roles and develop research collaborations spanning more than 50 institutions in 30 countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESpeaker Bio: \u003C\/strong\u003ESiqin (Sisi) Wang is an Associate Professor at the Spatial Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Queensland and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia. Her research focuses on computational social science and human-environment interactions using GeoAI and advanced spatial simulation, with 120+ publications.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EShe holds leadership and research roles with the NSF Spatiotemporal Innovation Center, Harvard Centre for Geographic Analysis and several international geographic organizations. Her honors include Geospatial World 50 Rising Stars and the IGU-MGSC Excellent Young Scholar Award. She is also co-founder of AIforAfricanEducation and has volunteered with GISCorps since 2011, work that earned her the Presidential Volunteer Service Award.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","phone":"","contactname":"WenWen Li","email":"wenwen@asu.edu","delta":"0","alias":"https:\/\/asuevents.asu.edu\/event\/sparc-giscience-lecture-series-backpacking-academia?id=0","ticketing_rsvp_txt":"Zoom","ticketing_rsvp_txt2":"","ticketing_rsvp_url":"https:\/\/asu.zoom.us\/j\/89461386245","ticketing_rsvp_url2":"","website":"https:\/\/sparc.asu.edu\/","image_url":"https:\/\/asuevents.asu.edu\/sites\/g\/files\/litvpz3506\/files\/2026-09\/SPARC%20GIScience%20Lecture_9-18-26%20Sisi%20Wang.png","image_alt":"","image_title":"","start_date":"Sep 18 2026 - 1:00pm","end_date":"Sep 18 2026 - 2:00pm","time_description":"","very_start_date":"2026-09-18T13:00:00Z","very_end_date":"2026-09-18T14:00:00Z","event_types":"Lecture","interests":"Artificial Intelligence|Environment|Graduate students|Interdisciplinary|Lectures|Social science|Academic and Professional Enhancement|Career development","audiences":"For current ASU students|For faculty|For international students","event_units":"School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning|Spatial Analysis Research Center|The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences","event_topics":"Academic events|Science","download":"","event_map_url":"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/Lattie+F.+Coor+Hall\/@33.4194569,-111.9403451,17z\/data=!4m10!1m2!2m1!1scoor+hall!3m6!1s0x872b08da461c3def:0xe3c0855052ea3583!8m2!3d33.4194639!4d-111.9379023!15sCgljb29yIGhhbGySARV1bml2ZXJzaXR5X2RlcGFydG1lbnTgAQA!16s%2Fg%2F","event_map_title":"","event_video":"","location_term":"Tempe campus","venue_address":"975 S. 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