Zhanchao Yang is a dual-degree master's student pursuing a Master of City Planning (MCP) and a Master of Urban Spatial Analytics (MUSA) at the Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania. He works as a graduate research fellow and assistant in transportation under Prof. Erick Guerra. With a deep interest in how cities function, Zhanchao focuses on integrating Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, and urban informatics techniques to address real-world problems in understanding travel behavior, smart mobility, and intelligent transportation systems. His work supports more equitable, efficient, and sustainable urban infrastructure. Zhanchao earned his bachelor's degree from Binghamton University, SUNY. He was honored with the 2024 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence (CASE)—the highest recognition for SUNY students.

My research interests involve leveraging advanced geospatial technologies to support city and regional planning frameworks, as well as the smart cities initiative, particularly in the field of transportation and human mobility. I focus on integrating spatial data science, transportation systems analysis, and remote sensing to address complex urban challenges. My work aims to inform equitable, data-driven, and future-oriented planning decisions.

• Geostatistics and Spatial Analysis
• Open spatial data for policy analysis
• Geovisualization & Cartography (spatial communication)

• Multimodal transportation
• Travel behavior modeling and data mining
• Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and smart mobility
• Active transportation and sustainable urban mobility
• GeoAI and remote sensing for urban planning

2024 SUNY Chancellor Award for Student Excellence, State University of New York

• The SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence acknowledges students for outstanding achievements, which is the highest honor for student excellence at the State University of New York
• Awarded to students who have best demonstrated the integration of SUNY excellence within many aspects of their lives, which must include three areas: academics, leadership, diversity, equity, inclusion and justice, campus involvement or community service, research and development, or the arts.

President's Award for Undergraduate Student Excellence (Honorable Mention), Binghamton University

• Awarded to students who have enriched the Binghamton University community through a record of accomplishment and leadership in scholarship, student life, and community life, all of which reflect the University’s purposes and priorities.

Department of Geography and GIS & Remote Sensing Core Facility Student Poster Competition, Binghamton University

• First Place - Undergraduate * 2 , November 18th, 2022, November 17th, 2023
• People’s Choice Award (Undergraduate), November 18th, 2022

Paul F. Gorman '73 Memorial Scholarship, Binghamton University

• Awarded annually to a student with a declared major in geography and a GPA of 2.8 or higher, Fall 2023

• University of Pennsylvania; Master of City and Regional Planning (MCP) 2024-2026(Expected)
• University of Pennsylvania; Master of Urban Spatial Analytics (MUSA) 2024-2026(Expected)
• Binghamton University, SUNY; Bachelor of Arts, Geography and GIS, 2020-2024

• Geography and Planning: focused on geography and planning coding resources
• Opengeos.org: Pending development
• MUSA-Zhanchao: My course-related and research work at the Master of Urban Spatial Analytics program, University of Pennsylvania (co-hosted by my team, if cooperated in class)