Late-breaking funded graduate opportunity (Fall 2026)
I am recruiting a funded graduate student to join my research group in the Department of Geography at Kent State University beginning in Fall 2026. This position has become available following the recent funding of a new Ohio Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative (HABRI) project focused on the social-ecological dimensions of wetland restoration in the Western Lake Erie Basin and Great Black Swamp region.
The project will examine how governance, stakeholder perspectives, landscape identity, and institutional coordination shape wetland restoration outcomes, while working closely with the H2Ohio Wetland Monitoring Program. The student will engage in interdisciplinary research spanning environmental governance, GIS and spatial analysis, mixed methods, stakeholder engagement, and social-ecological systems research.
More information about the project, funding, and application process is available here:
Congratulations to Dr. Kwang-il “Jason” Yoo!
Congratulations to Dr. Kwang-il “Jason” Yoo, who successfully defended his dissertation in Geography at Kent State University.
Jason’s dissertation applies GeoAI, spatial analysis, and machine-learning approaches to examine how geographic context, institutional structures, and environmental governance shape water-quality outcomes in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. His work advances important questions at the intersection of GIScience, social-ecological systems, land-use governance, and watershed restoration.
Jason has been an outstanding member of the HESI Lab, bringing technical skill, intellectual curiosity, and a deep commitment to rigorous, policy-relevant research. His dissertation represents a major accomplishment and a meaningful contribution to research on complex human-environment systems.
Congrats, Jason!
Moving to Kent State University
As of August 2024, I have joined the Department of Geography at Kent State University as an Assistant Professor.
At Kent State, I direct the Human-Environment Systems, Interactions, Impacts, and Intelligence (HESI) Lab, where my students and I study complex interactions among environmental change, governance systems, land-use decisions, and spatial inequalities. Our work uses, simulation, GeoAI, and stakeholder-engaged methods to examine water quality, watershed restoration, flood vulnerability, and the dynamics of social-ecological systems.
This move marks an exciting new chapter for my research, teaching, and student mentorship. At Kent State, I look forward to continuing to build a policy-relevant human-environment systems research program, with active and emerging work in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, Western Lake Erie Basin, and other social-ecological systems.