In August 2026, the Center for Geospatial Analytics welcomed its eighth cohort of Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. students. This year’s cohort is our largest yet at 14 students! They are advised by Faculty Fellows across six departments in four different colleges here at N.C. State. Geospatial analytics is a branch of data science that spans myriad disciplines, and our students’ research interests and backgrounds are just as varied.

Meet some of our newest Ph.D. students as they join our other cohorts of students on their academic journeys.

Madeline Dwyer

Research: Protecting historical and natural resources under threat from urbanization and climate change
Advisor: Jelena Vukomanovic
Education: B.S. Environmental Science & Policy (Marist University)

Lauren Krohmer

Research: Understanding the dynamics of harmful algal blooms in estuarine ecosystems to better forecast these events to protect human health
Advisor: Natalie Nelson
Education: Masters in Environmental Science & Management (UC Santa Barbara), B.S. Environmental Sciences (Northeastern University)

Dipesh Oli

Research: Coupling in situ high-frequency soil moisture data and remote sensing products to bridge spatio-temporal gaps explaining forest health, evapotranspiration, and water availability dynamics across forest biomes
Advisor: Matthias Sprenger
Education: M.S. Environmental Studies (Kentucky State University), B.S. Agriculture (Agriculture and Forestry University)

Kabita Paudel

Research: Using Camera Trap (CT) imagery and remotely sensed data to map Near to Ground (N2G) habitat
Advisor: Josh Gray
Education: M.S. Environmental Studies (Kentucky State University), B.S. Agriculture (Agriculture and Forestry University)

Trinity Valentin-Walczak

Research: Understanding environmental resource systems through geospatial analytics and remote sensing tools to help provide data driven solutions for sustainable resource management
Advisor: Justin Baker
Education: B.S. Earth Science (Northern Michigan University)

Desmond Wang

Research: GeoAI and wildfire predictions with deep learning
Advisor: Raju Vatsavai
Education: M.S. Management & Analytics (New York University), B.S. Information Management and Information Systems (Shanghai International Studies University)