Dr. Qiusheng Wu, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Sustainability
by Jessica Foshee
Qiusheng Wu, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Sustainability at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has developed and published many online open-source information packages and educational materials available for students all over the globe.
His research and learning tools focus on geospatial data science and cloud computing. Wu’s GitHub, which has several thousand followers, contains all his open-source research projects. Wu has produced and uploaded hundreds of videos on his YouTube channel, which has over 17,000 subscribers and over half a million total video views. During the COVID-19 pandemic Wu created over 200 videos, averaging about two videos per week.
While Wu is an advocate for open science and reproducible research, he is also passionate about geographic information science, remote sensing and environmental modeling. His resources have been consistently utilized by geospatial researchers and students on a global level.
Multiple universities and academic institutions have invited Wu to hold presentations and workshops for students over the past two years. Wu has presented to over 40 universities and institutions around the world including those in Senegal, Kenya, China, Japan, Colombia and El Salvador.
Many universities and students in developing countries around the globe do not have the same access to information as universities in the United States. Wu has helped bridge this gap by providing information about geospatial data science and cloud computing to students who would not otherwise have access.
“It is important to make resources more accessible,” says Wu. “So many students and professionals in other countries are not aware of some of the new tools that you can use to do analysis for free.”
Wu’s goal is to share these kinds of free cloud computing resources that professors “can use to teach their students, so it makes it easier for them to access something that has traditionally been difficult to access.” Wu emphasizes, “it makes things more reproducible and more accessible, especially for people in developing countries who don’t have the luxury or the money to buy commercial software. Now they can use these free computing resources to conduct research that can help their local region or even their own professional development.”
Learn more about Wu’s open-source projects and social media resources by clicking here. If you are interested in having Wu present at your university or institution, you may contact him at qwu18@utk.edu.
CONTACT:
Jason Moody (865-974-5752, jmoody9@utk.edu)