Yifan Wang

Yifan Wang is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography, University at Buffalo (UB). His research involves formal ontology, computational ontology, geospatial semantics in flood response, and artificial intelligence in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Yifan finished his M.S. in Geographic Information Science at UB, and he also holds a B.Eng. Degree in Electronic Engineering from the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. While pursuing his Ph.D. in Geography, Yifan also took courses in Philosophy and Computer Science. His philosophical thinking has motivated him to think of information systems from diverse perspectives, and has provided him insights into the development of GIS. During college, Yifan worked as a volunteer teacher in the farms of Phonsavang, Laos, and in Sukabumi, Indonesia, where he interacted with children and low income populations. Such experiences have motivated him to devote his expertise to help people and the community. Yifan worked as a Teaching Assistant and has taught various courses and labs, including Maps, Web-based GIS, Earth, Climate and Environment, and GIS. In his spare time, Yifan plays the trumpet in the UB symphony orchestra and also enjoys photography and playing soccer.