Guangqing Chi

Dr. Guangqing Chi is a Professor of Rural Sociology and Demography at Pennsylvania State University, specializing in environmental demography and socio-environmental systems. His research focuses on human-environment interactions, climate change adaptation, and spatial/big data analytics. He leads initiatives like the POLARIS project and the Environmental Demography Network (EDeN), advancing resilience strategies for vulnerable populations and Arctic communities.

Education: PhD in Environmental Demography (University of Wisconsin-Madison), MS in Environmental Policy (Michigan Tech), BS in Environmental Science (East China Normal University).

Research emphasizes climate-driven migration, food security, and infrastructure resilience. Methodological expertise includes social media data analysis, spatial regression models, and big data integration. Current projects address Arctic community resilience, global food systems, and pandemic responses.

Key contributions include the textbook Spatial Regression Models for the Social Sciences (SAGE 2019) and development of tools like the strm R package for spatial analysis. Advised students include Dr. Shuai Zhou (now at University of South Carolina).

Labs/Teams: EDeN Network, POLARIS Project, Indigenous Peoples Observatory Network (IPON).