Zhihao Wang

I am currently on the job market and seeking faculty and research scientist positions.

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park, where I received my Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Yiqun Xie. My research lies at the intersection of Earth system science, geospatial AI, and deep learning, with a focus on AI emulation and world models, geo-foundation models, satellite remote sensing, and physics-based modeling. I aim to develop scalable and reliable AI methods for addressing critical Earth science challenges, including biosphere modeling, ecosystem dynamics, and large-scale Earth monitoring and forecasting.

I obtained my Master in Geography at The Ohio State University with Dr. Desheng Liu. Previously, I graduated from a dual-degree program, where I received a B.E.S. in Honors Geomatics and Minor in Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, Canada, and a B.E. in Remote Sensing Science and Technology at Wuhan University, China.

news

Aug 2026

My first-author paper was accepted to ACM SIGSPATIAL 2026.

June 2026

I won first place in the Student Lightning Talks competition organized by the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS).

May 2026

I earned my Ph.D. degree from the University of Maryland. 🎉

Feb 2026

I received theOutstanding Graduate Assistant Award (Top 2%) from University of Maryland.

Oct 2025

I was awarded a Scholar Award fromNeurIPS 2025.

Oct 2025

Our paper with a high-school student I mentored was accepted toICDM 2025 High School Track.

Sep 2025

Two of my first-author papers were accepted toNeurIPS 2025.

Dec 2023

I was awarded a $1,200 USD student scholarship fromAAAI 2024.

Dec 2023

My first-author paper was accepted atAAAI 2024.

Oct 2023

I was awarded a $1,000 USD travel award fromSIGSPATIAL GISCup competition.

Sep 2023

My first-author paper was accepted toACM SIGSPATIAL 2023.