Presidential Graduate Assistant Scholars Program: Geospatial Artificial Intelligence for Equitable Disaster Resilience
The School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning invites applications for the prestigious Presidential Graduate Assistantship (PGA) program aimed at recruiting scholars. We are recruiting two doctoral students to start at ASU in Fall 2026. Our doctoral programs include Geographic Information Science, Geography and Urban Planning.
Priority will be given to applicants with strong computational and big data analytical skills in Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI), particularly in deep learning, remote sensing image analysis and multimodal modeling. Applicants with background in GIScience, remote sensing and computer science are strongly encouraged to apply. Areas of interest include developing and applying GeoAI and vision-language models to map and monitor natural disasters such as wildfires, landslides, floods, and to advance spatial optimization models for resource allocation, evacuation management, equitable infrastructure investment. The overarching goal is to enhance environmental resilience and improve data-driven disaster response.
The Presidential Graduate Assistantship position offers:
- Financial Support: Four years of funding (full tuition coverage, stipend and health insurance), contingent upon satisfactory academic progress.
- Research Opportunities & Mentorship: Collaboration with a team of interdisciplinary faculty mentors with expertise in transportation equity, environmental justice, public health and spatial analysis. The doctoral student will work with a principal mentor to develop an Individual Development Plan tailored to their research interests and career goals.
- Professional Development: The doctoral student will join a cohort of scholars across ASU and participate in specialized training, workshops, networking and mentorship opportunities provided by the Office of Inclusive Excellence and the Graduate College.
Faculty Recruiting PhD students:
- Wenwen Li focuses on advancing GeoAI through both cutting-edge methodological development (e.g., multimodal geospatial foundation model) and its applications to critical societal challenges at the human-environmental interface, including landslide mapping, wildfire forecasting, flood monitoring and climate change.
- Heather Baier develops spatially-adaptive GeoAI methods to model uncertainty, adaptation and transferability in satellite-based prediction. Her work focuses on improving the robustness and interpretability of models used to estimate socioeconomic and development indicators across diverse geographic contexts.
- Daoqin Tong advances the fields of spatial optimization and urban informatics by integrating GeoAI into data-driven approaches for resource allocation, urban sustainability and hazard mitigation. Her research has been applied to address critical challenges including food accessibility, water scarcity, flood resilience and transportation planning.
- Dylan Connor uses causal inference and big data to study how environmental and social processes interact to shape community vulnerability, bringing expertise in analytical tools that connect GeoAI outputs to disaster resilience outcomes.
To Apply:
The deadline to apply is December 15, 2025. Interested applicants should apply to one of our PhD programs in Urban Planning, Geography, or Geographic Information Science. For information on the application process and to apply, please visit Graduate Programs. Note: Applicants should indicate interest in the Presidential Graduate Assistantship in their personal statement and the peer faculty mentor(s) that they would like to work with.
Contact Us:
For questions, please email [email protected].
About the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning:
The School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (SGSUP) advances the ASU mission and Charter through interdisciplinary research and discovery of public value. SGSUP advances geospatial knowledge for a complex world, emphasizing education, research and applied solutions to urban and environmental problems. SGSUP is committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive culture to help students from all backgrounds achieve success at ASU and beyond.
About Arizona State University:
ASU exemplifies a new prototype for the American public research university. As articulated in the ASU Charter, ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.