Wenjing Gong

About Me

Greetings,😀! I’m Wenjing Gong, a first-year Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University, advised by Dr. Xinyue Ye. My research interests lie in Urban Analytics, GIScience, Artificial Intelligence, Human Mobility, and Climate Resilience.
(Updated on 10/2024)

Education

[2024-] Ph.D. Student, Urban and Regional Science
Texas A&M University, College Station, USA
Advisor: Dr. Xinyue Ye
[2019-2022] M.E., Architecture (Urban Study)
Tongji University, Shanghai, China
GPA: 88.5/100 (Entrance through the exam-free recommendation program)
[2019] Visiting Student, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Columbia University, New York, USA
[2014-2019] B.E., Architecture
Shandong University of Science & Technology, Qingdao, China
GPA: 90.5/100 (Rank: 1/60 each year)

Academic & Professional Employment

[2024-2028] Research Assistant
Center for Geospatial Sciences, Applications and Technology, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA
[2022-2024] Designer and Planner
Architecture Design & Research Institute of Tongji University, Shanghai, China
[2020] Teaching Assistant
Department of Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

Peer-reviewed Publications

• Gong, W., Rui, J., Li, T., 2024. Deciphering Urban Bike-Sharing Patterns: An In-depth Analysis of Natural Environment and Visual Quality in New York’s Citi Bike System. Journal of Transport Geography 115, 103799.
• Gong, W., Huang, X., White, M., Langenheim, N., 2023. Walkability Perceptions and Gender Differences in Urban Fringe New Towns: A Case Study of Shanghai. Land 12, 1339.

Selected Under Review/Working Papers:

• Gong, W., Lee, C., Li, S., Adkison, D., Li, N., Wu, L., Ye, X., 2024. Cyber Victimization in Hybrid Space: An Analysis of Employment Scams Using Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning Models (Under revision in Journal of Crime and Justice)
• Ye, X., Li, S., Gong, W.*, Li, X., Li, X., Dadashova, B., Li, W., Du, J., Wu, J., 2024. Street view imagery in traffic crash and road safety analysis: A review (Under review in Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy)
• Gong, W., Wu, K., Yang, Y., Zhang, W., Ye, X., Huang, X., 2024. Integrating high-resolution simulations and transformer network predictions for mitigating human heat stress: A digital twin of a Texas campus (Working paper)

Selected Research Experience

• Utilized multi-sources data, including sociodemographic, natural environment, and built environment factors to examine their impact on Citi Bike usage in New York City on weekdays and weekends in the year 2022.
• Processed about 13 million trip data using Python, collected a set of 6,744 street view images through Google API, and then employed PSPNet model for semantic segmentation; processed sociodemographic data at Census Block Groups level, Points of Interest data, weather and air quality data using ArcGIS pro.
• Applied machine learning models to establish non-linear relationships between features and bike-sharing usage at the station scale and reveal the feature importance using SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) package in Python.
• Developed multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) models to capture spatial non-stationary and reveal quantitative effects of related factors at the neighborhood scale.
• Authored a manuscript published in the Journal of Transport Geography as the lead writer, based on research results.

• Utilized the Network Analysis tool in ArcGIS to obtain the 15-minute walking radius for 11 communities in Shanghai’s five new towns and the central area based on the road network from Open Street Map.
• Developed a TrueSkill-based rating system to dynamically collect audits of 325 street view images from professional students, and used DeeplabV3 and Mask R-CNN models to extract the physical features in images.
• Conducted a clustering analysis using PCA and K-means++ algorithms of the perceived walkability scores in 11 communities and explored the characteristics of each cluster.
• Applied Random Forest feature importance to analyze gender differences in factors influencing walkability perception and assessed the prediction performance of various machine learning models.
• Authored a manuscript published in the journal Land as the lead writer, based on research results.

• Utilized spatial analysis methods such as Kernel Density, Standard Deviational Ellipse, and Spatial Autocorrelation to characterize the spatial and temporal evolution of courier station distribution in 2018 and 2022 at the macro scale.
• Applied the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model to identify meso-influential factors and models that are “fit for courier stations” and evaluated the supply and demand for street-scale courier station layouts.
• Analyzed micro-environmental characteristics “fit for courier stations” within 500m buffer zones and proposed an effectiveness evaluation of the current situation based on specific indicators.
• Built a platform on Datlas system that integrates data visualization, supply and demand, and performance evaluation for courier station siting services.

Presentations

Conferences

• Gong, W., Wu, K., Yang, Y., Zhang, W., Ye, X., Huang, X. Integrating high-resolution simulations and transformer network predictions for mitigating human heat stress: A digital twin of a Texas campus. 2024 Texas Weather Conference, November 9, 2024, College Station, Texas, USA (Oral).
• Gong, W., Yang, Y., Zhang, W., Wu, K., Ye, X., Huang, X. Integrating high-resolution simulations and transformer network predictions for mitigating human heat stress: A digital twin of a Texas campus. College of Architecture’s 26th Annual Showcase, October 3, 2024, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA (Poster).
• Gong, W. Simulating and Predicting Spatial-Temporal Human Outdoor Heat Exposure: A Case Study on a Texas Campus. The 2024 Symposium on Spatiotemporal Data Science: GeoAI for Social Sciences, July 24, 2024, Virtual (Abstract accepted).

Workshops

• Gu, J., Gong, W., Zhang, X. Analysis of the Spatial Distribution of Express Courier Stations and Assessment of Site Selection Effectiveness. DigitalFUTURES 12th Summer Workshops, July 2, 2022, Virtual (Oral).
• Gong, W., Huang, H., Zhang, X. Undoing Sprawl: Urban Agriculture as a Social Innovation. Resizing the Urban Form in the Era of “Negative Population Growth” Workshop, December 9, 2019, Columbia University, New York City, USA (Oral).

Awards & Honors

• [2024 - 2028] Research Assistantship covering stipend and tuition, Center for Geospatial Sciences, Applications and Technology, Texas A&M University
• [2019 - 2022] Academic Scholarship covering all tuition fees, Tongji University
• [2014 - 2019] First-class Scholarships in academic performance (5%, 8 times), SDUST
• [2014 - 2019] First-class Corporate Scholarships (5%, 2 times), SDUST
• [2014 - 2019] “Outstanding Student Pioneer” (5%, 3 times), SDUST
• [2019] “Outstanding Graduate” of Shandong Province (5%)
• [2019] “Outstanding Student” in Science, Technology, and Innovation (5%), SDUST
• [2018] SINO-JAPAN Art & Design Exchange Exhibition, Gold Award
• [2018] National Green Building Design Competition, National Best Leader Award
• [2018] National Green Building Design Competition - Deep Green Category, Grand Prize
• [2018] The Fourth Academy Award National Art and Design Exhibition, First Prize
• [2018] Chinese Creative Design Annual 2016/2017, Gold Award
• [2018] The Third Bauhaus Award International Design Competition, Silver Award
• [2018] Exhibition of Architectural Design in Developing Countries, Bronze Award
• [2018] Shandong Province College Student Construction Design Competition, Excellent Award
• [2017] China Architectural Education/TSINGRUN Award Students’ Paper Competition, Excellence Award
• [2017] The 3rd Mainland, Taiwan and Hongkong Design Invitation Exhibition, Bronze Award
• [2017] National Green Building Design Competition - Green Category, Second Prize
• [2016] National Green Building Knowledge Competition for Youth Students, Excellent Award
• [2016] Lion Award International Industrial Design Competition - ‘Innovative Application Design Group: Industrial Robot Systems’, Excellent Market Potential Award

Services

Journal Article Reviewer

• International Journal of Geographical Information Science
• Journal of Planning Education and Research
• Forum Geografi

Media Coverage

• Throwing Shade at Heatwaves: Tracking campus “hot spots” could help students stay cool in the Texas heat. [Link]

Skills

• Programming: Python (Data Processing, Visualization, and Analysis), SQL, HTML
• Machine Learning/Deep Learning: Computer Vision (Semantic/Instance Segmentation), Time series Forecasting (LSTM, Transformer), Tree models, Explainable AI (SHAP)
• Spatial Data Analysis: ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, Geoda, MGWR 2.2
• Urban Climate Simulation: SOLWEIG, Envi-met
• Design and Planning: AutoCAD, SketchUp, Rhino, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Enscape, Lumion