Dr. Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at Duke Kunshan University. She holds an M.S. in GIS for Development and Environment from Clark University and a Ph.D. in Geography from Arizona State University. Before joining Duke Kunshan, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Riverside, and served as a visiting assistant professor of Environmental Studies at Oberlin College, Ohio. Dr. Zhang is an interdisciplinary geospatial scientist with expertise in spatial data science and digital city tools. Her research centers on urban sustainability, climate change adaptation, and public health. She particularly focuses on the impacts of urban 3D morphology and canopy changes on climate-smart and resilient urban planning, and health impact assessments to improve environmental justice and urban greening efforts. She has been honored with the Gilbert F. White Environment and Society Fellowship and her work has been published in leading journals including “Landscape and Urban Planning,” “World Development,” “Environmental Research Letters,” and “Landscape Ecology”, among others. At Duke Kunshan, her teaching interests encompass applied environmental science and policy, spatial data analytics, and geographical information science.
