Join us for the Kohl Centre at Virginia Tech's dynamic virtual speaker series showcasing cutting-edge data science tools and their real-world applications.

This series aims to make modern analytics more accessible and demonstrates how researchers and practitioners leverage data science to address complex problems across various disciplines. The series is open to everyone.

Upcoming speakers

Qiusheng Wu

Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

  • Topic: Open Geospatial Data Science in Action: Interactive Visualizations and Data Analytics
  • Date: June 16, 2025 at 11 am EST

Abstract: The rapid growth of geospatial data and the increasing demand for open-source solutions have significantly reshaped the field of geospatial data science. This presentation delves into the development and practical applications of open-source Python packages tailored for geospatial analysis. We will showcase powerful libraries such as Geemap, Leafmap, and SAMGeo, and GeoAI, which simplify complex workflows in data processing, visualization, and analysis. These tools empower researchers, developers, and organizations to harness the full potential of spatial data, driving innovation and collaboration in geospatial data science and GeoAI.

Bio: Dr. Qiusheng Wu is an Associate Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Geography & Sustainability at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He also serves as an Amazon Scholar. Dr. Wu’s research focuses on geospatial data science and open-source software development, with an emphasis on leveraging big geospatial data and cloud computing to study environmental change, particularly surface water and wetland inundation dynamics. He is the creator of several widely used open-source Python packages, including geemap, leafmap, segment-geospatial, and geoai, which support advanced geospatial analysis and interactive visualization. His open-source work is available at https://github.com/opengeos.

Focus of research: Geospatial Data Science, open source software development, and cloud computing.

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Jose Fernandez

Professor of Economics and Department Chair, University of Louisville

  • Topic: Application of data visualization in applied economics
  • Date: July 14, 2025 at 11 am EST

Abstract: Coming soon

Bio: Fernandez’s research focuses on a wide range of risky behavior and mental health topics with a special focus on suicide and substance abuse, including opioid-related healthcare utilization. Fernandez has over 20 articles appearing in well-respected journals such as the International Economic Review, The Journal of Economic Education, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and Health Service Research Journal. He has appeared in over 100 local, regional, and national media interviews, including NPR’s Planet Money and the Indicator.

Dr. Fernandez is a faculty scholar at the Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky, a member of the Statutory Committee Consensus Forecasting Group for the State of Kentucky, the former President of the American Society of Hispanic Economists, of the CoCo Chair of the Committee on Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession of the American Economic Association, and the chair of the Economics Department at the University of Louisville.

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