Feb. 12, 2026

Lily McEwen

Lily McEwen is a doctoral student with a multidisciplinary emphasis on geospatial and heritage informatics, and she is a GRA for the MU 3D Heritage Informatics Lab (PI Dr. Medeia Csoba DeHass). Her research focuses on how Indigenous cultural protocols and research priorities can inform heritage informatics, using geospatial technologies to support Alaska Native digital heritage preservation. Lily’s project incorporates human-centered computing as she facilities the development of a 3D digital exhibit to feature 3D digital models of cultural heritage from the Kawerak region of Alaska created in partnership with MU’s Adroit Studios and Kawerak Inc. Her research follows the Co-Production of Knowledge Framework, Indigenous Data Governance, and the CARE and FAIR principles. Lily serves as a Board Member for the United States Association of Polar Early Career Scholars (USAPECS). 

Sep. 5, 2025

Jeong Wook Lee

I am interested in spatial analysis, particularly in how it can be applied to public health. My research goal is to explore the intersection between geospatial data and health outcomes, with a focus on understanding how physical and mental health issues are distributed across space.

July 7, 2025

Filiz Bunyak Ersoy

Filiz Bunyak Ersoy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Missouri. She is also a core faculty member of the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics and the MU Materials Science & Engineering Institute. She earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Control and Computer Engineering from Istanbul Technical University, and her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Missouri University of Science and Technology. Dr. Bunyak Ersoy’s research focuses on image processing, computer vision, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, with applications in biomedical image analysis, material science, and visual surveillance.

July 2, 2025

Medeia Csoba DeHass

Medeia Csoba DeHass is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Missouri and a doctoral faculty member at the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics. She teaches courses on decolonizing research methodologies, digital heritage preservation, research design, and collaborating with Indigenous communities. Dr. Csoba DeHass has been working with Alaska Native communities on a variety of ethnohistorical and ethnographic projects for the past two decades. She is the recipient of an NSF CAREER award supporting her research on Indigenous perspectives and applications of digital 3D technologies in preserving and perpetuating Alaska Native heritage in…

June 24, 2025

Randi Foraker

Dr. Foraker is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics, Biostatistics & Medical Epidemiology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. She is trained as an epidemiologist and holds fellowships in the American Heart Association, American Medical Informatics Association, and the American College of Medical Informatics. Dr. Foraker specializes in the design of population-based studies and the integration of electronic health record data with socioeconomic indicators as well as the use of synthetic data for research. Her recent research has focused on the application of clinical decision support – embedded in the electronic health record – to…

June 23, 2025

Qian Liu

Dr. Liu received her Ph.D. degree of Earth System and Geoinformation Science in May 2022 from George Mason University (GMU). Her research focuses on four aspects: 1. Climate and atmospheric factor detection, segmentation, and retrieval using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies; 2. Spatiotemporal theories and analysis in big earth data; 3. Remote sensing and climate/environmental data record processing and generation; 4. The ability of using the above to solve pressing issues in extreme weather events, climate change and natural disasters.

June 18, 2025

Joe Emanuel

Joe Emanuel is a PhD Student in Informatics. His research interests include geospatial data privacy, differential privacy, and cybersecurity.

July 3, 2024

Erfan Zareei

Erfan Zareei is a PhD student at the University of Missouri, Columbia, where he is a member of Dr. Chi-Ren Shyu’s research team. He completed his Bachelor’s degree at the Sharif University in Iran and his Master’s at the University of Missouri, Columbia. In his current role, Erfan is engaged in research focusing on the application of LLM in Geospatial Informatics. His previous research includes studying virus spread in wetlands, analyzing fish behavior in stagnant water, quantifying microplastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems, and simulating particle cloud behavior in fluids with image processing and CFD simulation. With a passion for Data…

Nov. 30, 2023

Mitchell Pillarick III

First and foremost, Mitch Pillarick is a loving husband to his wife Vanessa, and a caring father to his three children. Mitch is an Eagle Scout with the Vigil Honor. He was commissioned  as a US Army Officer in 2008 where he continues his service in the Reserves. Since 2010, Mitch has worked in the fields of Geospatial Analysis, Imagery Analysis, Web Development, Systems Engineering, Data Science, and Data Engineering. The focus  of his research is operationalizing and optimizing computer vision workflows against  remote  sensing  satellite imagery leveraging a novel Machine Learning Operations platform.