{"nodes":[{"node":{"nid":"80851","title":"SPARC GIScience Lecture Series","campus":"Tempe campus","locations":"Coor Hall 5519","college_unit":"Rob Walton College of Global Futures - School of Ocean Futures, 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\u003EGlobal high-resolution mapping of seagrass to support conse\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","full_body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELecture Title: \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EGlobal high-resolution mapping of seagrass to support conservation\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESpeaker: \u003C\/strong\u003EJiwei Li, Assistant Professor, ASU School of Ocean Futures\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the Talk: \u003C\/strong\u003ESeagrass ecosystems underpin coastal biodiversity and provide vital ecosystem services, including shoreline protection, food security and climate mitigation. Despite growing recognition as a nature-based climate solution, seagrasses are among the least mapped and most poorly understood vegetated coastal ecosystems. We present, to our knowledge, the first global 10-m spatial resolution maps and change analysis of seagrass extent in clear, shallow coastal waters, derived from 4.75 million Sentinel-2 MSI satellite images for two periods (2019\u20132020 and 2023\u20132024). Using a deep-learning classifier trained on curated reference data, we identified 148,506\u2009km2 of seagrass globally, including 5,961\u2009km2 of intertidal and 142,545\u2009km2 of subtidal areas. Sixty-nine per cent of global seagrass extent is concentrated in The Bahamas, Cuba, the U.S., Australia and Indonesia, yet only 21% of seagrass areas are located within marine-protected areas. Over the four\u2009years of the study, 5,969\u2009km2 (4%) of seagrass was lost, and an additional 6,221\u2009km2 (4.2%) was degraded from dense to sparse cover in tropical regions. Our findings identify seagrass meadow hotspots and vulnerable regions to inform conservation and climate policy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESpeaker Bio: \u003C\/strong\u003EJiwei Li is a remote sensing scientist, biological oceanographer and computer scientist. Li\u2019s research stands at the forefront in exploring interactions between human and natural systems, especially at the land-ocean interface. Li combines remote sensing with globally scalable physical analytical algorithms, big data analysis, cloud computing, and machine learning to understand the in\ufb02uences of human activities on the aquatic systems to protect the Earth\u2019s resources and achieve a more sustainable future.\u003C\/p\u003E","phone":"","contactname":"WenWen Li","email":"wenwen@asu.edu","delta":"0","alias":"https:\/\/asuevents.asu.edu\/event\/sparc-giscience-lecture-series?id=0","ticketing_rsvp_txt":"","ticketing_rsvp_txt2":"","ticketing_rsvp_url":"","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%208%2021%2026_Jiwei%20Li.jpg","image_alt":"","image_title":"","start_date":"Aug 21 2026 - 1:00pm","end_date":"Aug 21 2026 - 2:00pm","time_description":"","very_start_date":"2026-08-21T13:00:00Z","very_end_date":"2026-08-21T14:00:00Z","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":"Rob Walton College of Global Futures - School of Ocean Futures|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?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":"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":"","ticketing_rsvp_txt2":"","ticketing_rsvp_url":"","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. 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