Dr. Zhenlong Li

Biography

Zhenlong Li is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Pennsylvania State University, where he leads the Geoinformation Big Data Research Laboratory. He is a broadly trained GIScientist focusing on geospatial big data analytics, spatial computing, and geospatial AI. His research aims to advance knowledge discovery and decision-making to address a wide range of geographic questions, including hazards, public health, population mobility, and environmental change. Dr. Li has published over 120 peer-reviewed journal articles, primarily in collaboration with students and postdoctoral researchers in top-tier international journals in GIScience. He has received more than $2.3 million in funding from NIH, NSF, and NASA to support his research. Notably, he was awarded an NIH R21 grant to develop a tool for measuring obesogenic environments using cellphone-based visitation data and electronic health records. Dr. Li serves as an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Digital Earth and the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. He has held various leadership roles in professional organizations and received several accolades, including being named a Breakthrough Star at USC and one of the Geospatial World 50 Rising Stars. He seeks to train the next generation of GIScientists with strong problem-solving and spatial-thinking skills.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards