Yanan Wu - Assistant Professor of Geography at Central Arkansas University

Yanan Wu
（中文名：吴亚南）

Assistant Professor

Department of Geography, Central Arkansas University

Curriculum Vitae

Faculty page @ Central Arkansas University

About Me

Hi, I'm Yanan, currently serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at Central Arkansas University. I hold a Ph.D. in Geospatial Information Sciences from the University of Texas at Dallas, an M.A. in Geography from Binghamton University (SUNY), and a B.S. from Xi'an University of Science and Technology. As a geographer and GIScientist, my expertise lies in transportation geography, social geography, spatial-temporal analysis, and advanced GIScience methodologies. My research focuses on developing innovative spatial analysis techniques to understand urban dynamics and improve emergency response systems. My recent research has focused on analyzing emergency response times for vehicles in Dallas, where I utilized fine-grained spatial units to predict areas with extended response durations. This work is part of my broader interest in leveraging geographic information systems to address real-world challenges in urban environments. I have published extensively in top-tier journals including Information, ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, and Abstracts of the ICA. My teaching interests include GIS programming, spatial statistics, web mapping, and quantitative methods in geography. I am passionate about mentoring students and developing innovative approaches to spatial data analysis and visualization.

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), NewYork, USA
• 2013–2017   B.S. in Resource Environment and Urban-Rural Planning Management. Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an, China

Appointments

• 2025–now   Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Central Arkansas University
• 2024–2025   Visiting Assistant Professor, Geography Department, Clark University
• 2024–2024   GIS Analyst, Information Technology Services, City of Lewisville
• 2023-2024   Teaching Assistant, Gepspatial Information Scicences Department, UTD
• 2021-2023   Instructor, Gepspatial Information Scicences Department, UTD
• 2020-2021   Teaching Assistant, Gepspatial Information Scicences Department, UTD
• 2019-2020   Research Assistant, Gepspatial Information Scicences Department, UTD
• 2017-2019   Graduate Assistant, Geography, Binghamton Department

Projects

GIScience

Spatial Analysis, Geostatistics, GIS Programming, Large Language Model

Tools & Addins

GPS Trajectory, Road Segmentation, Plug-in tool

WebGIS

Python, Big Data, Google Earth Engine, R, ArcGIS

Grants

  • UCA Faculty Research: Indoor Spatial Information Infrastructure: A GIS Application for Navigation, Search, and Learning, October 2025
  • UCA Foundation Faculty Grant: Developing an Augmented Reality Indoor Assistive Navigator for Smart Campus Environments, December, 2025

Publications

Conference Proceedings

TEACHING

I have extensive experience as an instructor and Teaching Assistant for a diverse range of courses, including programming, GIS, Web mapping, statistics, and remote sensing.

Below are some selected comments from my students and supervisors.

Peer Observation for Formative Assessment of Teaching - UTD,Nov, 2021

Teaching Evaluation - Clark University, October, 2024


  • “Great professor. Always willing to answer questions and re-explain problems. Pre-made notes are extremely helpful especially as the topics began to build off of each other. It was great to have a reference that was easy to pull information from.”
  • “Assignments were well rounded in testing for learned information. Overall, the experience in this course was average.”
  • “I enjoyed taking your class this semester! I think you'll be a great professor with some more experience! Have a great spring semester!”
  • “I think that the course was laid out very nicely. There was nothing really that semester that I thought needed improvement.”
  • “Functions like a co-teacher; well organized; extremely supportive of course educational goals; she was a pleasure to work with.”
  • “The course was really good overall.”
  • “I want to thank you for being my professor for Methods of Quantitative Analysis. I was intimidated by the course material at the start of the semester, but as you began teaching, things started to make more sense.”
  • “What I really appreciated was your dedication and level of care for all of your students. Despite the mix of online and in-person learning, you were always willing to answer any questions and engage with us so that we would get the most out of the course.”
Python Programming in GIS

Python Programming in GIS

Web Mapping

Web Mapping

Remote Sensing Fundamental

Spatial Database

Methods of Quantitative Analysis

Intermediate Statistics

Global Change

Global Change

Principles of GIS

Principles of GIS

Awards and Honors

2023

2022

  • Graduate student participants of the Grad WINGS Workshop, UCGIS
  • International Cartographic Association Scholarship
  • Second Place, Student Lightning Talk Award, UCGIS Symposium
  • Third Place in GIS Day 2022 Awarded by Geospatial Information Sciences Program, UTD
  • Travel award from UCGIS to attend the UCGIS Symposium
  • The University of Texas at Dallas 2022 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, Finalist
  • Honorable mentions, GI Science & Systems Student Honors Paper Competition session, AAG

2021

  • Travel award from USNC for ICA with NSF funding to attend the ICC2021
  • Pioneers Student Research Fund, Geospatial Information Sciences Program, UTD
  • PhD Research Small Grants Awarded by the Office of Graduate Education, UTD
  • First Place in GIS Day 2021 Awarded by Geospatial Information Sciences Program, UTD

2019

  • First Place in GIS Day 2019 Awarded by Geospatial Information Sciences Program, UTD
  • Pioneers Student Research Fund, Geospatial Information Sciences Program, UTD
  • First Place in GIS Day 2019 Awarded by the Geography Department at Binghamton University

2015

  • Outstanding Prize in GeoDesign at Esri GIS Software Development Contest

Presentations

2025
  • Digitizing the Past: Reconstructing Historical Cities Using Machine Learning, SWAAG, November
  • Automatic Reconstruction of Historical Buildings through Deep Learning and Map Analysis, Arkansas GIS User Forum, October
  • Reconstructing Historical Urban Landscapes: A Machine Learning Approach to 3D City Modeling, AAG, March
2024
  • Understanding the role of geographical environments in emergency dispatch, AAG, March
2023
  • Identify geographical environments influencing emergency response performance, SWAAG
  • Modeling of emergency incidents with GPS trajectory data using random forest algorithm, ICC
  • Assessing the role of geographical context in modeling the likelihood of emergency response, AAG
2022
  • Driving pattern analysis for emergency vehicles (EV), AutoCarto
  • Understanding emergency vehicle movement from GPS trajectory data, GIS Day in UTD
  • Understanding 911 Response Time from GPS trajectory data, UTD Research Day
  • Driving pattern analysis for emergency vehicle (EV) using multi-source data, UCGIS, Syracuse
  • Why is there a delay in a 911 vehicle arriving? The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition
  • Location analytics of routine occurrences (LARO) to identify locations with regularly occurring events
  • Location Analytics of Routine Occurrences (LARO) with a case study on traffic accidents, AAG, New York
2021
  • Location analytics of routine occurrences (LARO) with a case study on traffic accidents, ICC, Italy
  • Emergency vehicle data map-matching utilizing the Dijkstra’s Algorithm, GIS Day in UTD
  • Spatial-temporal analysis of traffic accidents for increasing sustainable transportation, The Center for Spatial Studies
  • The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, The University of Texas at Dallas
2020
  • Research Showcase Poster Competition, EPPS. The University of Texas at Dallas, October
2019
  • Visualizing (Wild) Fires in Sentinel-2 imagery using custom script in EO Browser. GIS Day in UTD, November
  • Developing an hourly risk model for street networks in Dallas. SWAAG, Fort Worth, Texas. October
  • Integration of Earth observations and in situ data for analyzing lake level changes. GIS Day Binghamton University, March
  • Integration of Earth observations and in situ data for analyzing lake level changes. AAG, Washington D.C. April