Yalin Yang

（中文名：杨亚霖）

Research Associate, GIS Programmer

West Virginia University
West Virginia GIS Technical Center

About Me

I am a Research Associate and GIS Programmer at the West Virginia GIS Technical Center at West Virginia University. I hold a Ph.D. in Geospatial Information Sciences from the University of Texas at Dallas (德州大学达拉斯分校). My research interests include Geographic Information Science (GIS), Urban Environment, and Human Networks Modeling. Specifically, I focus on applying geospatial big data, machine learning, and cloud computing (AWS) to study built environments, social events, semantic segmentation of urban landscapes, navigation with map matching, and more.

I enjoy developing practical applications for local communities. Check out my research for more information about my ongoing projects.

Education:
• 2019–2024 Ph.D. in Geospatial Information Sciences. University of Texas at Dallas , Texas, USA
• 2017–2019 M.A. in Geography. Binghamton University (SUNY), New York, USA
• 2013–2017 B.S. in Geographic Information Science. Yunnan University, Yunnan, China

Appointments:
• 2024–Present Research Associate, GIS Programmer, West Virginia GIS Technical Center
• 2024 Senior GIS Analyst, City of Dallas
• 2021–2024 GIS Administrator, GAIA Lab, UT Dallas
• 2019–2024 Teaching Assistant, Department of GIScience, UT Dallas
• 2018–2019 Teaching Assistant, Department of Geography, Binghamton University (SUNY)

Research and knowledge base

Geospatial Data Science: the science that investigates the 'where' and 'why' of various human and natural phenomena!
As geographers, we discover deeper insights, make better decisions, and take them to action.

GIScience

Spatial Analysis, Geostatistics, WebGIS, GIS Programming, Python, R

Software & Addins

Serverless App development (AWS), Android Development, Addins for ArcGIS

Remote Sensing

Satelite Image, Big Data, Google Earth Engine, ArcGIS

Awards and Honors

2024 Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure Workshop Scholarship National Science Foundation
2024 Betty and Gifford Travel Award University of Texas at Dallas
2023 AAG Student Travel Grants American Association of Geographers (AAG)
2023 Betty and Gifford Travel Award University of Texas at Dallas
2023 I-GUIDE Summer School Travel Award National Science Foundation
2023 Pioneer Student Research Grants. University of Texas at Dallas
2022 ICA Scholarship. International Cartographic Assoication (ICA)
2022 Pioneer Student Research Grants. University of Texas at Dallas
2022 Esri EIP student of the Year Award. ESRI
2021 Ph.D. Research Small Award. University of Texas at Dallas
2019 Pioneer Student Research Grants, University of Texas at Dallas
2019 AAG-UCGIS Summer School Travel Award, University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS)
2014 Second Prize, The 7th Chinese College Students Computer Design Competition, Nationwide
2012 Third Prize, The 27th Chongqing Youngsters Innovation & Invention Competition, Province-wide
2012 Science & Technology Innovation Award, Youngsters in and out of Class Competition, Province-wide
2011 Second Prize, The 26th Chongqing Youngsters Innovation & Invention Competition, Province-wide

TEACHING & ASSISTING

I have worked to Dr. May Yuan , Dr. Michael Tiefelsdorf , Dr. Karl Ho , and Dr. Fang Qiu as a teaching assistant, and received their approval on assistantship reviews. Selected comments from them:

“Even in a remote learning environment Yalin Yang kept in touch with the course participants and the instructor. Yalin is knowledgeable in machine learning techniques.”
“Students commented in the course evaluation positive on the TA's interaction with them and helpfulness. This completes the second academic year and a substantial improvement and a development of a routine could be observed.”
“Mr. Yang is a very supportive teaching assistant and he is always punctual. He is very knowledgeable in the materials covered in class. He will take extra time to finish the exercises and provide keys to students after class. I really appreciate his efforts to help students learn well.”
“Yalin helped tremendously on students' assignments and debugging students' codes on an individual basis. He gave personal attention to individual students and allowed them to move forward with their projects. His programming skills were instrumental to one of the class projects. He did beyond what was expected of the project assignment. ”