Liang Zhou is a professor at Lanzhou Jiaotong University. His research focuses on urban thermal environments, urban geography, simulation, disaster risk, mountain city governance, and sustainable urban development. He has conducted postdoctoral and visiting research at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and Indiana University Bloomington (IUB). He has published over 160 peer-reviewed papers and received multiple academic awards and scientific honors. As principal investigator, he has led five research projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). He also serves as Editorial Director of the international journal Journal of Geovisualization and Spatial Analysis. To date, he has supervised more than 40 master’s and doctoral students. His research supports urban planning, climate adaptation, and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals through the application of geospatial technologies.
Mr. Bo Yuan is currently pursuing his PhD at Nanjing University. His research focuses on the impacts of compound climate extremes on vegetation vulnerability and ecosystem recovery, with additional interests in urban climate and environment of remote sensing.
David López-Carr is Professor of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he directs the Human-Environment Dynamics Lab (HED). López-Carr received a PhD in Geography from the University of North Carolina in 2002, where he subsequently held a NIH post-doctoral fellowship in Biostatistics in the School of Public Health and Carolina Population Center. He has lived, worked, and traveled in over 70 countries worldwide and speaks Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, and rudimentary Q’eqchí Maya. Professor López-Carr uses mixed methods to examine potential win-win outcomes for people and the environment. His research specifically focuses on links among population, health, rural livelihoods, agriculture, and marine and forest resource use and conservation through ongoing projects in California, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. He has authored over 230 scientific publications. With co-authors, he was awarded the 2024 Ecological Society of America's (ESA) Sustainability Science Award and the
Frontiers Planet Prize from the US National Academy of Sciences. His scholarship has been conducted with colleagues and students thanks to funding from over 50 fellowships, grants, and awards from NASA, NOAA, NSF, NIH, the Mellon, two Fulbright Fellowships, and numerous other sources. López-Carr was awarded the Research Excellence Award from the
Population Specialty Group and the Human Dimensions of Global Change Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers (AAG). He was also presented the AAG Excellence in Mentoring Award and the Conference of Latin American Geography Teaching Award. Named a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow in 2013, in 2014 he was elected an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow ‘’for advancing our scientific understanding of the coupled process of human population dynamics and environmental change.’’
Mr. Fengning Hu is currently pursuing his PhD at the City University of Macau. His research focuses on remote sensing-based mapping and analysis of urban logistics infrastructure and urban climate.