Our Ph.D. candidate, Yiming Zhang, has published his co-authored journal article with our alumnus, Dr. Wei Xu (Assistant Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin: Ph.D. 2019).  

Zhang, Y., & Xu, W. (2025). Accelerometer-based physical activity, air pollution and risk of dementia subtypes: a prospective study using UK biobank. .��

Yiming also won third prize for the Ph.D. student poster session at the AAG West Lakes Division 2025 Meeting (Oct.23-25). His poster was titled, “Spatial Accessibility Dynamics of Long-term Care Facilities in Wisconsin Through the COVID-19 and post-COVID Era,”&�Բ�����;and was coauthored with Dr. Wei Xu. Congratulations on great achievement, Yiming! 

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Current MA student Brianna Sas-Pérez presented their research at the 13th  in Albuquerque, New Mexico in November 2025. Thinking with abolition geography scholarship and a close reading of the walled Robledo neighborhood in Octavia Butler’s (1993) Parable of the Sower, her poster explores what mapping speculative fiction can teach us about how to create safe neighborhoods, without police or prisons. In their thesis work, brianna continues to research how mapping speculative worlds invite us to question how communities today do, and/or could, cultivate similar spaces of collective care amid our own unfolding crises. Well done, Brianna!  

Alpha Mu Chapter Earns 2025 GTU Honors Chapter Award—Second Year in a Row!

We are delighted to announce that the Alpha Mu Chapter of the Gamma Theta Upsilon Geographical Honor Society has been selected as a 2025 GTU Honors Chapter—marking the second consecutive year that UW–Milwaukee has received this distinction. 

We are honored to receive this award and extend a huge thank‑you to our dedicated members, our president, vice president, and all of our officers, along with everyone whose hard work and contributions made this achievement possible. Well done, Alpha Mu! 

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Thea Brenner (Master Student) 

I spent the summer interning for the Land Information Department in Columbia County, Wisconsin where I worked on a series of projects including archival work with highway right-of-way-maps, reviewing ortho imagery for emergency services, parcel management, and creating static maps for local townships. My summer internship was a great opportunity to learn about data management and how GIS is an important tool for collaboration at the county level! The department was extremely welcoming, and I’m happy to have grown in my confidence as a GIS user and geographer. 

�ٳܱ������Ծ��������ⲹ�ɲ����岹�Բ� (Ph.D. student) 

We are pleased to share that PhD candidate, �ٳܱ������Ծ��������ⲹ�ɲ����岹�Բ�, was named as one of two winners of the Spirit of Community Geography Award by the American Association of Geographers Community Geographies Collaborative (CGC)! This award is given annually to those who have made exemplary contributions to advancing research projects in Community Geography. This award was given considering her photovoice project done in collaboration with Lindsay Heights community members, focused on civic environmental stewardship. We are thrilled to share that at the spring 2025 51���� Student Excellence Awards, she was one of two winners in the “Agent of Change” category. She also received a nomination in the Outstanding Graduate Student category.��

Yiming Zhang (PhD student) 

Yiming Zhang was elected as the student member of the Board of Directors of the International Association for Chinese Professionals in Geographical Information Sciences (CPGIS) for the term of 2025-2027. Congratulations, Yiming!   

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Dulmini Jayawardana (Ph.D. student) 

We are proud to share that Dulmini Jayawardana, a PhD candidate, had her dissertation research on environmental stewardship and community empowerment featured in the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS) in November 2024. The article ”” highlighted Dulmini’s project, See What We See: Stories of Environmental Stewardship in Lindsay Heights. It showcased how local residents participating in the photovoice project learned about the history of Lindsay Heights and how Dulmini’s research has helped them build a sense of place attachment and inform policymakers in the City of Milwaukee. Additionally, her photo exhibition with the residents at Milwaukee City Hall was featured in the .   

Great work, Dulmini! 

Shamsun (Proma) Nahar (Ph.D. student) 

Proma won second place for the Best Graduate Student Paper at the Ph.D. level at the AAG West Lake Division Meeting, Kalamazoo, Michigan, in October 2024. Her paper title was “Exploring the Relationship Between Heat Exposure and Cardiovascular Disease Incidence in Wisconsin”, and her research investigates the impact of heat exposure on cardiovascular disease incidence in Wisconsin, highlighting how environmental factors influence public health outcomes. The study emphasizes the importance of health geography and its importance in mitigating health risks in vulnerable populations. Congratulations, Proma!   

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