T M Junaid Bashar is beginning his Ph.D. in Geography, Environmental Science, and Policy at the University of South Florida in Fall 2024. He holds a bachelor’s degree in urban planning from Khulna University of Engineering & Technology and a master’s degree in Geography from Texas State University. Bashar’s research is driven by a deep interest in the spatial dimensions of healthcare accessibility, focusing on how spatial analysis can be used to address health disparities and improve access to healthcare. In his spare time, he enjoys playing soccer, cricket, and various other outdoor games, finding balance and inspiration through sports.

Nicholas Stanley is studying for his Master's in Geography, concentrating in Geographic Information Systems. He graduated with his BA in the same field in the Spring of 2024, working alongside other USF professors on projects centered around using GIS as a medium to support and present works in anthropology, archeology, and history. In his Master’s, he looks to explore additional topics such as changes in urban environments and advances in GIS with large language models and other tools. Outside of school, Nicholas is an avid cook, sci-fi fantasy reader, and board game player.

Sandra Ogugua Onochie is a second-year Master's student in Geography at the University of South Florida, specializing in geospatial analysis and urban change detection. With a strong academic background from the University of Abuja Nigeria, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Geography, Sandra is skilled in using advanced tools like ArcGIS, SPSS, and ENVI for spatial analysis and data visualization. Her research interests include urbanization trends, environmental impacts, and sustainable development in Nigeria. In her free time, Sandra enjoys watching series and exploring new recipes in the kitchen.

Sarah Shaughnessy is working on her Master's in Geography with a concentration in GIS at USF. She earned a BS in Geography at Florida Atlantic University in Spring 2014. Originally from West Palm Beach, Florida, Sarah moved to Tampa in 2016 and did the Graduate GIS Certificate program at USF in 2019 while simultaneously working full-time. She decided to come back to USF and complete the rest of her coursework for her Master's starting in Fall 2023. For her thesis, she plans to explore the spatial optimization of new hurricane shelter locations in Hillsborough County. Sarah currently works as a GIS Analyst for Hillsborough County Government and enjoys reading, drawing, and watching crime shows in her free time. She's also a die-hard Florida Panthers hockey fan and is involved in the martial arts, having two Black Belts in karate and taekwondo.

Yuzhou Chen earned his Ph.D. in Geography, Environmental Science, and Policy at USF in Summer 2024. He is now a postdoc fellow at the Urban AI Center, University of Florida. He obtained his BS in Urban Planning at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) and earned his MS in Urban and Regional Planning at USF. He is interested in applying GIS and spatial analysis to detect urban changes, identify city network structure, evaluate urban shrinkage, and promote smart and sustainable cities. His dissertation topic is “Proposing Coordinated Urban Development Strategies for Cities Networked by Spatial Flows”, in which he aims to propose coordinated development strategies for a group of interconnected cities based on detecting urban changes at a fine spatiotemporal resolution. In his spare time, he likes playing ping-pong, watching movies, and playing videogames.

Lauren Carter, Ph.D. in Geography, Environmental Science, and Policy at USF, graduated in Summer 2023. Since then, she has been working as a BD-STEP Data Science Fellow at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. After completing her BS and MS in atmospheric sciences and applied meteorology, she switched fields to geography to explore the human impact of weather and climate. She is interested in applying GIS and spatial analysis to evaluate how disasters such as hurricanes and pandemics affect socioeconomically challenged communities, especially on people’s migration and travel behaviors. Her dissertation topic was “Evaluating Puerto Rican’s Mobility Patterns: Demography, Social Vulnerability, and Dual-Disaster Scenarios”. In her spare time, she enjoys watching sci-fi movies, reading dystopian novels, and playing fantasy videogames.

Chuang Yin earned his Master of Geography at USF in 2023. After completing his bachelor’s degree in Geography, he chose to further study and explore the relationships between human and environments in the master program. He is interested in applying GIS to solve problems of modern transportation systems, such as quantifying the impact of electric vehicles on the traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. His thesis topic was “Spatial Mismatch Between Electric Vehicles and Charging Stations in Florida”. In his spare time, he likes playing table tennis, watching movies and series, and traveling to different places.