Yingjie Hu

Yingjie Hu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University at Buffalo (UB), with an Adjunct Assistant Professor appointment in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. He is an Affiliate Faculty at the UB Center for Geological and Climate Hazards and the UB AI and Data Science Institute.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Geography (minor in AI), University of California, Santa Barbara (2016)
• M.S. and B.S. in Cartography and GIS, East China Normal University (2011 & 2008)

His research focuses on Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI), Disaster Management, Community Resilience, and Human-Environment Interactions. He leads the GeoAI Lab@UB, which develops methods to integrate geospatial data, GIS, and AI for analyzing natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, wildfires, winter storms) and sustainability challenges.

The 15 most recent articles demonstrate his work in GeoAI, spatiotemporal analysis, social media for disaster response, and human mobility modeling. Key subtopics include toponym recognition, location labeling, alcohol consumption disparities, and deep learning frameworks for environmental applications.

Scientific awards include the UCGIS Community Champion (2025), UCGIS Early/Mid-Career Research Award (2024), AAG SAM Emerging Scholar Award (2024), and CPGIS Young Scholar Award (2023). His NSF funding supports social media analysis in disaster response, and he has advised multiple students in GeoAI, spatial statistics, and urban planning applications.