Department of Computer Science Seminars

GIS and Its Applications in Transportation and Environmental Health Research

Speaker: Professor Benjamin Zhan

Time: 12:30pm-1:30pm, April 28th, 2006

Location: Nueces Conference Room

Abstract:

This presentation demonstrates how GIS and spatial analysis methods can be used to support transportation and environmental health research. Dr. Zhan will first provide an overview about geospatial data, geospatial data handling, GIS, and spatial analysis. He will then describe two projects: (1) Agent-based modeling and microsimulation of hurricane evacuation, and (2) environmental epidemiological studies of birth defects in Texas. These two projects were recently completed at the Texas Center for Geographic Information Science at Texas Stata University-San Marcos. Some preliminary results from the two projects will be presented.

Brief speaker's bio

Benjamin Zhan is Professor and Director of the Texas Center for Geographic Information Science (TxGISci) in the Department of Geography at Texas State University. He joined the faculty of the department at Texas State in 1995. Dr. Zhan's major research interests are in Geographic Information Science and its applications in Medical Geography and Transportation. Dr. Zhan obtained his doctoral degree in 1994 from the Department of Geography in the University at Buffalo (UB), the State University of New York (SUNY).