Hao Tian
Ph.D. Student | GIScience | Urban Human Dynamics | GeoAI
Department of Geography, Texas A&M University ยท
City Analytics & Informatics (CAI) Lab
I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography at Texas A&M University and a member of the City Analytics & Informatics (CAI) Lab, supervised by Dr. Heng Cai. My research explores urban human dynamics, human-environment interactions, and GeoAI methods for understanding how people respond to environmental and climatic stressors.
My work integrates multi-source sensing data, including mobile phone mobility traces, ambient seismic noise, distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), and remote-sensing products, to reveal fine-grained patterns of human behavior, urban activity rhythms, and resilience during extreme events such as heatwaves and winter storms.
Outside of research, I enjoy hiking, swimming, and photography.
Urban Sensing
Mobile phone mobility traces, ambient seismic noise, DAS, and remote sensing for measuring urban activity.
Human Dynamics
Behavioral adaptation, disruption, and recovery during heatwaves, winter storms, hurricanes, and other shocks.
GeoAI & Resilience
Spatial modeling and AI methods that translate complex observations into climate-adaptive planning insight.
news
- My recent work was accepted to the 34th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems (ACM SIGSPATIAL 2026).
- Selected as a TAMIDS Data Science Ambassador for the 2026-2027 cohort.
- Awarded the 2026 CaGIS Ph.D. Scholarship.
- Awarded 2nd Place in the AAG RSSG Student Paper Competition.
- Elected Student Director (Board Member) of the Cyberinfrastructure Specialty Group (CISG), American Association of Geographers (AAG), for the 2026-2027 term.
- Received AAG International Geographic Information Fund (IGIF) Student Paper Award.
- Successfully passed my Ph.D. preliminary exam at Texas A&M University.
selected publications
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 2026, Vol. 127: 102441.
Uses ambient seismic noise to quantify disruption and recovery patterns in human activity during extreme weather events.
Journal of Environmental Management, 2024, Vol. 366: 121665.
Measures community-level adaptations to extreme heat and proposes behavioral resilience indices.
more publications
- AAAG 2025. Rapid Disaster Response and Damage Estimation with Social Media and Pretrained Large Language Models: Insights from Multiple Hurricanes. Zhou B, Zou L, Yang M, Lin B, Mandal D, Abedin J, Cai H, Ji S, Klein A, Hao Tian. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2025.
- IJDRR 2025. Quantifying Healthcare Accessibility Disruptions Using Mobile Phone Location Data During Disasters: A Case Study of Hurricane Beryl. Lin B, Cai H, Tian H, Fu D, D Palash, Sumiya NN, Yin Z. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. Under Review.
- Applied Geography 2025. Predicting Healthcare System Visitation Flow by Integrating Hospital Attributes and Population Socioeconomics with Human Mobility Data. Lin B, Zou L, Cai H, Tian H. Under Review.
- Environmental Research 2021. Effects of high-frequency temperature variabilities on the morbidity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Hao Tian, Yumin Zhou, Zihui Wang, Xiaoliang Huang, Erjia Ge, Sijia Wu, Peng Wang, Xuelin Tong, Pixin Ran, Ming Luo.
- Urban Climate 2021. Urbanization contribution to human perceived temperature changes in major urban agglomerations of China. Peng Wang, Ming Luo, Weilin Liao, Yong Xu, Sijia Wu, Xuelin Tong, Hao Tian, Feng Xu, Yu Han.
- Science of The Total Environment 2021. Urbanization-driven increases in summertime compound heat extremes across China. Sijia Wu, Peng Wang, Xuelin Tong, Hao Tian, Yongquan Zhao, Ming Luo.
- Frontiers in Earth Science 2021. Increasing Compound Heat and Precipitation Extremes Elevated by Urbanization in South China. Sijia Wu, Ting On Chan, Wei Zhang, Guicai Ning, Peng Wang, Xuelin Tong, Feng Xu, Hao Tian, Yu Han, Yongquan Zhao, Ming Luo.
- Urban Climate 2020. Estimating PM2.5 from multisource data. Hao Tian, Yongquan Zhao, Ming Luo, Qingqing He, Yu Han, Zhaoliang Zeng.
- Book chapter, Springer 2025. Zhou, B., Lin, B., Zou, L., Yang, M., Tian, H., & Cai, H. Integrating natural language processing in human geography. In GeoAI and Human Geography.
- Book chapter, Routledge 2024. Li, X., Zhang, Y., Li, D., Cai, H., & Tian, H. Spatiotemporal Visitor Characterization through SafeGraph Data Analysis. In Contemporary Landscape Performance Methods and Techniques.
education
Texas A&M University
Ph.D. in Geography, Department of Geography. Supervisor: Dr. Heng Cai.
Sun Yat-Sen University
M.Eng. in Engineering (Surveying and Mapping), School of Geography and Planning.
Zhengzhou University
B.S. in Geographic Information Science, School of Geo-Science and Technology.
honors & awards
- The Texas A&M Institute of Data Science (TAMIDS) Student Ambassador Scholarship ($2,000)2026
- CaGIS Ph.D. Scholarship ($1,500)2026
- 2nd Place, AAG RSSG Student Paper Competition ($250)2026
- AAG International Geographic Information Fund Student Paper Award ($600)2026
- International Cartographic Association Scholarship ($450)2025
- CaGIS International Conference Grant ($2,100)2025
- AAG Jeanne X. Kasperson Student Paper Award, Co-author ($250)2025
- 2nd Place, AAG GISS-SG Student Paper Competition ($450)2024
- AAG SAM-SG Student Travel Award ($250)2024
- Texas GIS Day Graduate Student Research Competition Awardee ($150)2023
selected talks & presentations
- 2026.03 Invited Can Seismic Signals Decode Human Behavior? Toward a Data-Driven Understanding of Human Dynamics. TAMIDS Ambassador Seminar, Texas A&M Institute of Data Science.
- 2025.11 Invited Integrating Social and Seismic Sensing: Multi-Source Insights into Urban Human Dynamics. Texas GIS Day and Fall 2025 Geography Colloquium, Texas A&M University.
- 2025.08 Oral Disproportionate Heat Adaptation: Multi-Scale Evidence of Unequal Mobility Responses to Extreme Heat. International Cartographic Conference, Vancouver.
- 2025.03 Oral Human responses to extreme heat through the lens of human mobility: A multiple-scales study across the United States. AAG 2025, Detroit.
- 2024.04 Oral Unveiling Community Adaptations to Extreme Heat Events Using Mobile Phone Location Data. AAG 2024, Honolulu.
academic services
Conference service
Organizer and chair for AAG 2024, AAG 2025, AAG 2026, and ICC 2025 sessions on geospatial data science, resilience, crisis management, and urban human dynamics.
Leadership
Student Director, AAG Cyberinfrastructure Specialty Group, 2026-2027.
Communications Committee, UCGIS, 2026-present.
Reviewing
Reviewer for Nature Cities, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, Journal of Transport Geography, Annals of GIS, Scientific Reports, and related journals.
photography
