CAGIS Student Research Presented at 2026 UCGIS Symposium

Charlotte, NC — The Center for Applied Geographic Information Science (CAGIS) is pleased to highlight recent student research presented at the 2026 UCGIS Symposium, held June 15–18, 2026, at the University of Maryland, College Park. This year’s symposium, themed “AI Everywhere!,” brought together the GIScience community to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping geospatial research, education, and society.

Jayanta Biswas, a Ph.D. student at UNC Charlotte working with Dr. Yao Li, presented a poster titled “A Deep Learning Framework for Fusing Multi-Modal Environmental Data to Downscale Human Mobility for Precision Malaria Modeling in Zambia.” Jayanta also received a UCGIS travel grant to support his participation in the symposium.

The presented research develops a deep learning framework for integrating multi-modal environmental data to improve fine-scale estimation of human mobility. By downscaling mobility patterns, the work supports precision malaria modeling in Zambia and contributes to more spatially targeted public health analysis and intervention planning.

Dr. Yao Li, Associate Director of CAGIS and Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geographical Sciences, leads research at the intersection of GIScience, health and medical geography, human mobility, spatial data science, and GeoAI. Jayanta’s presentation reflects CAGIS’s growing strength in applying advanced geospatial analytics and artificial intelligence to human–environment and public health challenges.

CAGIS congratulates Jayanta on his presentation and travel grant, and looks forward to continued contributions from Dr. Li’s research group to GIScience, GeoAI, and spatial epidemiology!