Teaching

My overall teaching goals are to help students learn the subjects I teach, to inspire students’ imagination and enthusiasm in scientific inquiry, to help students get better prepared to meet the intellectual and technological challenges of the future, and ultimately to become responsible and useful citizens. I believe we cannot solve the future problems for students in today’s classroom. The only thing we can do now is to help our students get better prepared, equipping them with today’s cutting-edge knowledge and essential technical skills (e.g., Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems, Global Position System, Computer Programming, and Statistical Analysis), empowering them with critical thinking ability to creatively use the knowledge gained in the classrooms to solve the real-world problems. Ultimately, students gain the ability to learn by themselves so that they can always obtain the needed knowledge to solve the problems in the world they live in the future. I also believe that it is not enough for a student to be successful in their future life with technological know-how only. A student also needs to possess essential leadership skills as well as a collaborative spirit in order to succeed in the future. Everyone in my class deserves to be respected and treated equally regardless of his/her political belief, place of origin, race, and sexual orientation. These are the guiding philosophies for my teaching.

Currently, I am teaching Geog 577 (Advanced Remote Sensing), Geog 567 (GEE for Geospatial Data Analysis), Geog 410 (Modeling of Environmental Systems), and Geog 237 (Natural Resources-Forestry). I occasionally teach Geog 370 (Introduction to Geographic Information) as needed. In the past, I taught Geog 110 (Environmental Systems), Geog 391 (Quantitative Methods), and  Geog 595 (Ecological Modeling) in the past. I also teach a graduate seminar once in a while.