Zutao Ouyang (2015-2019), Postdoctoral Fellow at MSU, worked on the NASA-funded project "Urbanization and sustainability under global change and transitional economies: Synthesis from Southeast, East, and North Asia (SENA)".  Zutao is currently a tenure-track assistant professor at Auburn University, after working as a research scientist in Stanford University (2019-2023). Check Zutao's home page at Auburn University. 

Zihan (Linda) Lin (2021-22), Postdoc research associate at MSU, interested in remote sensing, human-natural interaction, machine learning for urban environment and health.  Linda is currently a tenure-track assistant professor at Cleveland State University. Check Linda's homepage at Linkedin. 

Hogeun Park (2014-2018), Ph.D. student at MSU, Dissertation "Urban transformation in transitional economies: Lessons from the Mongolian plateau", Ph.D. awarded in June 2018.  2017 ACSP Gill Chin Lim Travel Award, 2016 National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) Fellow, 2015 Asian Development Fellowship. Currently working as an Urban Specialist in the World Bank. Check Hogeun's personal website & his website at the World Bank.

Tanni Sarker (2020-23), Ph.D. Student at MSU, interested in remote sensing, urbanization & sustainability, worked on the NASA-funded project "Divergent Local Responses to Globalization: Urbanization, Land Transition, and Environmental Changes in Southeast Asia (SEAGUL)” as an RA. MSU ESPP Doctoral Recruitment Fellowship (2020) and Summer Fellowship (2021). Dissertation title "Urban Environmental Changes in Southeast Asia: Spatial Patterns, Driving Factors, and Policy Implications". Ph.D. awarded in December 2023.  Tanni is currently a Deputy Field Director at Office of Drinking Water, Virginia Department of Health and a Research Associate at Tufts University. 

Abhinav Kapoor (2019-24), Ph.D. Student at MSU, worked on the NASA-funded project "Divergent Local Responses to Globalization: Urbanization, Land Transition, and Environmental Changes in Southeast Asia (SEAGUL)” as an RA. MSU ESPP Doctoral Recruitment Fellowship (2019) & MSU College of Social Science Dean’s Assistantship (2020), ESPP Summer Research Fellow (2021). Dissertation title " Urban Transition & Peri-Urban Landcover Ecosystems: Interdisciplinary Insights from Case Studies in the Philippines & India".  Ph.D. awarded in August 2024. Currently working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at TCI Supply Chain Sustainability Lab, the Indian Institute for Management Bangalore. 

Abhinav was a doctoral candidate at the School of Planning Design and Construction, with a concentration in Urban and Regional Planning and has a doctoral fellowship at the Environmental Science and Policy Program at MSU. His research explores how urbanization affects the socio-economic conditions in the peri-urban areas of South and Southeast Asia. By making use of spatial and quantitative socioeconomic data, his research takes a critical look at the present trends of urbanization and explores how we can move towards a more sustainable urban policy with the interests of all stakeholders in mind—especially the more vulnerable groups living within and around the expanding cities. Before coming to MSU, Abhinav had been part of several research projects which study the changing agrarian livelihoods in India. His research focused on collecting and analyzing village level socio-economic data to understand the contemporary rural economy. On days when academic work seems overwhelming, Abhinav likes to drift into cooking elaborate meals for himself. Apart from that, he also likes to go on long runs and taking care of his plants at home.

Bo (Dylan) Zhu (2006-2009), Master Student at MSU, interested in economic development and social equity of urbanization. Thesis "Government Intervention in the Evolution of a FInancial Cluster: An Empirical Study of Financial Centers in Beijing and Shanghai" as the result of a field trip to East Asia in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and HongKong covering researches and interviews with industry experts and academic scholars. Winner of the "Best Graduate Student Paper for Shaochang Lee Competition" in 2009. Outstanding Graduate Student Award. Currently working at a Fortune 500 multinational company as Finance Manager in Troy, Michigan.

Sarah Murray (2013-15), Master Student at MSU, Thesis "Planning for Food Security as Impacted by Urbanization and Gender: A case Study of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania".  Outstanding Planning Student Award, American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP, 2015), US. Dept. of Education, Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships for Summer 2013 and AY 2014-2015 (Swahili).  Currently Sara works as Planning Program Manager at the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands, Indiana University.

Tanni Sarker (2024- ) Research Associate at the Global Urban Environmental and Socioeconomic Sustainability (GUESS) Lab, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University; 

Tanni is interested in understanding coupled human-environment interactions in natural and urban ecosystems using remote sensing, GIS, and quantitative analysis. Worked/working on NASA-funded projects SEAL and CLOUD.  Tanni was a Ph.D. student at the Urban Sustainability Lab at MSU from 2020-2023, advised by Dr. Fan.  Check Tanni's Website and google scholar link. 

Sadia Alam Shammi, Postdoctoral Fellow (October 2024-) at the Global Urban Environmental and Socioeconomic Sustainability (GUESS) Lab, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University.  Sadia worked with USDA ARS (Agriculture Research Service) through ORISE (Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education) as a postdoctoral fellow for application of machine learning and big data analysis in precision agriculture (2023-2024). Previously She gained experience of coastal wetlands monitoring and watershed erosion mapping while working as a postdoctoral associate at Geospatial Research Institute (GRI) of High-Performance Computing Collaboratory (HPCC) of Mississippi State University (2022-2023).  She completed her Ph.D. in Earth and Atmospheric Science in 2021 and MS in Electrical and computer engineering in 2023, from Mississippi State University. Her research interests focus on application of remote sensing, GIS, Machine Learning in agriculture, coastal and environmental studies. Her google scholar link is here.

Shubham K. Singh, Postdoctoral Fellow (October 2024- Present), at the Global Urban Environmental and Socioeconomic Sustainability (GUESS) Lab, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University.  Shubahm received his BS-MS dual degree in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal, India, in 2017. He completed his PhD (2018-2023) from the Department of Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) BHU, Varanasi, India. His research focuses on microwave remote sensing, with interests spanning agricultural studies, crop yield estimation, wetland and forestry analysis, human settlement mapping, soil moisture assessment, SAR polarimetry (PolSAR), and interferometric analysis (InSAR) using spaceborne and airborne SAR as well as optical datasets." His google scholar link is here. 

Nurul Wajah Mujahid (2022 - 2026), Ph.D. Student at Michigan State University, interested in urbanization and social inclusion, urban regeneration, affordable housing program, and real estate. Graduated from Faculty of Civil Engineering and Planning-Bandung Institute of Technology (2001) and School of Public and Environmental Affairs-Indiana University Bloomington (2011). Currently working at Ministry of National Development Planning of Indonesia. A scholarship awardee of Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP).  

Ana Paola De La Vega is an MS Environmental Policy and Planning student (2023-2025) at the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University. She is focused on advancing climate adaptation and environmental justice through innovative policy and financing mechanisms for climate resilience, utilizing quantitative and spatial analysis, particularly for countries in the Global South and underserved communities. Ana Paola holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City, and a Certificate in Gender, Development, and Sustainability from UNAM. She has professional experience as a sustainable finance advisor in the international development sector (GIZ México) and academia. She currently serves as a Climate Resilience and Finance Fellow at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and has participated as Research Assistant to the CLOUD project of the GUESS Lab.  Ana Paola just successfully defended her thesis for her MS in Environmental Policy and Planning "Dengue outbreaks on the rise: A statistical and spatial analysis approach to dengue incidence, climate and environmental patterns, drivers and implications in Piura, Peru" in June 2025.

Kashfia Tasnim Nishtha is pursuing her MS in Environmental Planning and Policy (2024-2026) at the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University. She will be working as a research assistant under Dr. Peilei Fan on the project “Decoding Land Transitions across the Urban-Rural Continuums (URC): A Synthesis Study of Patterns, Drivers, and Socio-environmental Impacts in Southeast Asia (SEALS) (2023-26)”. She completed her bachelor's in Urban and Regional Planning program from Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET), Bangladesh. She received dean’s award from KUET for her outstanding academic performance. Before joining Tufts University, she worked as a Research Consultant at the Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS). While working at CEGIS, she conducted several land-use mapping projects using satellite images and remote sensing. Herresearch interest involves environmental and climate change issues with a particular focus on GIS and Remote sensing technology. For detailed information about her research work and academic background kindly check https://kasfianishtha.wixsite.com/my-site-2.