University of South Florida

Ph.D., Geography and Environmental Science and Policy

2022 - 2026

Northwest University, China

M.S., Cartography and Geoinformation

2018 - 2021

Northwest University, China

B.S., Physical Geography

2014 - 2018

Graduate Teaching Associate, University of South Florida

Instructor of Courses: EVR 4921, GEO 4933, GEO 3164

2025 - 2026

Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of South Florida

Teaching Assistant of Course: GEO 3164

2023 - 2025

Graduate Research Assistant, University of South Florida

Department of Geosciences

2022 - 2023

Research Assistant, Northwest University, China

Labs website

2021 - 2022

Presentations

• AAG Annual Meeting, March 2026. Who Moves After Disasters? Selective Migration Evidence from U.S. County to County Flows.
• AAG Annual Meeting, March 2025. Associations of Human Migration and Natural Disasters in the United States from 2000 to 2020.
• AAG Annual Meeting, April 2024. Unveiling Spatio-Temporal Changes of Human Migration and Networks in Natural Disasters and Climate Change.
• AAG Annual Meeting, March 2023. Intergrated multi-source geospatial data to model evacuation decisions and routes in Hurricane Ian.
• Google Earth Engine (GEE) Workshop, Dec 2022. Storymaps link
• Northwest University Graduate Academic Activity Month Conference, Nov 2020. Second prize, Introduced a study of glacier changes on the Pamir Plateau.
• Northwest University Graduate Academic Activity Month Conference, Nov 2019. Third prize, introduced a method for automatic classification of vegetation mapping by UAV.

Professional Memberships

• Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS), 2026-Present
• Association of American Geographers (AAG), 2022-Present
• GIS Club at University of South Florida, President, 2024-2026
• GIS Club at University of South Florida, Vice President, 2023-2024

Competitions

• National Undergraduate Innovation and EntrepreneurshipProject, 2017-2018. Project leader, completed as a college student innovation national project. Set up an e-commerce company and operated in the local area.
• 'Challenge Cup' National College Student CurricularAcademic Science and Technology Works Competition, 2016-2017. Project leader, won the third prize at the provincial level. Reconstructed 3D images using UAV and developed an APP to achieve the whole processingautomatically.

Instructor of Record

• GEO 3164 - Research Methods in Geography
• GEO 4933 - Geography Colloquium
• EVR 4921 - Environment Science and Policy Seminar

Others

• Reviewer of International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
• Reviewer of Computational Urban Science
• Reviewer of Tourism Geographies
• Reviewer of Remote Sensing
• Reviewer of Annals of GIS

Pervasive seasonal divergence in lagged responses of vegetation growth to compound drought-heat stress on the Tibetan Plateau, Frontiers in Plant Science

Wenjuan Li, Xiuchen Wu, Zekai Meng, Xiang Li, Wenqi Song, Peng Zhao

www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1879954/full

July, 2026

Natural disasters and human migration in the United States: Insights from automated machine learning and explainable AI, Journal of Environmental Management

Xiang Li, Yi Qiang, Xiao Huang, Lei Zou, Heng Cai

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301479726012569

April, 2026

Natural Disasters and Urban Human Mobility, CRC Press

Xiang Li, Yi Qiang

www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.1201/9781003503262-7/natural-disasters-urban-human-mobility-xiang-li-yi-qiang

Jun, 2025

A SAR-based flood mapping approach: application of SAR-SIFT registration and modified DeepLabV3 segmentation in flood hazard assessment, Geocarto International

Zhuoyu Zhang, Jiaqi Xiong, Xiang Li, Yu Li, Junrong Liu

doi.org/10.1080/10106049.2025.2512188

Jun, 2025

Spatial Pattern and Socioeconomic Factors of 2022 Monkeypox Outbreak in the United States, The Professional Geographer

Linbo Han, Yi Qiang, Cong Ma, Xiang Li, Zakaria Salim, Radhika Bhandari, Kamal A Alsharif, He Jin

doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2025.2474445

Mar, 2025

Using Human Mobility Data to Detect Evacuation Patterns in Hurricane Ian, Annals of GIS

Xiang Li, Yi Qiang and Guido Gerveno

doi.org/10.1080/19475683.2024.2341703

Apr, 2024

Automated Glacier Snow Line Altitude Calculation Method Using Landsat Series Images in the Google Earth Engine Platform, Remote Sensing

Xiang Li, Ninglian Wang and Yuwei Wu

www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/10/2377

May, 2022

Summer surface temperature change of Greenland Ice Sheet from 2000 to 2020 and its effect on mass balance, Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology

Zhenxiang Fang, Ninglian Wang, Xiang Li, Yujie Zhang, Xuenan Tai

www.bcdt.ac.cn/CN/abstract/abstract4858.shtml

August, 2022

Experiment on 3D Reconstruction of Small Four-rotor UAV Series Images, Remote Sensing Information

Xiang Li, Shiqiang Zhang, Qian Liang

Feb, 2020

Glacier Changes and Its Response to Climate Change in the Gilgit River Basin, Western Karakorum Mountains over the Past 20 Years, Mountain Research

Wei Zhang, Ninglian Wang, Xiang Li, Kai Liu

June, 2019

CaGIS Student Research Scholarships

CaGIS

2026

USF Dissertation Completion Fellowship

University of South Florida

2026

USF Tampa Conference Presentation Grant (CPGP)

University of South Florida

2024, 2025, 2026

USF Graduate Fellowship

University of South Florida

2022

Outstanding Master Graduates in Department of Geography and Environment, Northwest University, China

Northwest University, China

2021

Outstanding Bachelor Graduates in Northwest University, China

Northwest University, China

2018

National Scholarship, China

2018

National Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project

Project leader. Completed as a national project

2016-2018

'Challenge Cup' National College Student Business Plan Competition

Project Leader. Third Prize in Shaanxi Province and first prize in Northwest University

2017

Students' 'Internet+' Innovation Entrepreneurship Competition.

Project Leader. Third Prize in Shaanxi Province and second prize in Northwest University

2016-2017