Ryan Engstrom

Ryan Engstrom is a Professor and Director of Data Science in the Department of Geography at George Washington University (GW). He is affiliated with the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences and holds a Ph.D. from the joint program at San Diego State University and UC Santa Barbara. His research focuses on Remote Sensing, GIS applications, Climate Change impacts, Arctic environments, and Population Estimation, with an emphasis on poverty mapping and urban deprivation analysis.

Engstrom has led major initiatives such as YouthMappers and IDEAMAPS, leveraging geospatial data and satellite imagery to address global development challenges. His work includes developing methodologies for georeferencing historical imagery, estimating non-monetary poverty, and mapping population density in regions like Sri Lanka and Ghana. He has published extensively in Remote Sensing, World Bank Economic Review, and Global Change Biology, among others.

Key research trends in his publications involve integrating satellite-derived features with machine learning to model urban poverty, climate-driven land-use changes in Arctic regions, and applications of open-source geospatial tools for international development. Engstrom collaborates globally, contributing to projects like the World Bank’s welfare tracking in disaster-affected regions.