Dr. Liang Mao

Associate Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator

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Curriculum Vitae

Focus Areas

Research Statement

My research aims to offer better understandings on the human-disease system with geospatial science approaches and technologies. My research interests focus on: Agent-based modeling and simulation; Geospatial network analysis; Spatial accessibility and disparities, such as cancer and access to healthcare/healthy food.

Recent Courses

  • GEO3452/6451: Intro. to Medical Geography
  • GEO4930 Senior Seminar
  • GIS3420C/6425C: GIS Models for Public Health
  • GIS4113/6104: Spatial networks
  • GIS4115/6117: Applied Geostatistics

Recent Funded Projects

  • 2025-2027. PI. National Institutes of Health. Modeling and validating dynamic accessibility to healthcare with system science approach ($137,064)
  • 2018-2020. PI. National Research Council Transportation Research Board. Phase 2: The role of air travel in the transmission and spread of insect-borne diseases ($14,692).
  • 2016-2018. PI. UF Informatics Institute Seed Fund. Developing temporally comparable high resolution rurality maps for social and health sciences. ($45,120).
  • 2018-2021. Co-PI. National Natural Science Foundation of China. Individual-based epidemic modeling at a city scale with multi-source trajectory data (￥770,000 as $114,925).
  • 2017-2020. Co-Investigator. National Natural Science Foundation of China. Modeling individual’s decision-making dynamic and its collective effects on urban sprawl using micro-simulation. (￥650,000 as $97,320).

Recent Publications

Danso, P., & Mao, L. (2026). Spatio-temporal sensitivity of healthcare accessibility: Insights from a system dynamics model. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 129, 102491.

Das, D., & Mao, L. (2025). Mapping large-scale brand networks: A consumers’ foot traffic-based approach. Applied Geography, 177, 103546.

Mao, L. (2025). Modeling time-varying spatial accessibility to healthcare: A system dynamic approach. Health & Place, 91, 103416.

Du, F., & Mao, L. (2024). Identifying points of interest (POIs) as sentinels for infectious disease surveillance: A COVID-19 study. Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, 51, 100691.

Du, F., Wang, J., Mao, L., & Liu, Y. (2024). Spatial equity in healthcare access: An opportunity-utilization perspective. Cities, 155, 105424.

Du, F., Wang, J., Mao, L., & Kang, J. (2024). Daily rhythm of urban space usage: Insights from the nexus of urban functions and human mobility. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 1-10.

Fu, H., Wang, Y., Mao, L., Hong, N., Wang, Z., Zhao, S., & Liao, C. (2022). The spatial pattern and governance of Zhongyuan Urban-Rural System in its development trajectory. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 32(7), 1261-1280.

Glover, B., Mao, L., Hu, Y., & Zhang, J. (2022). Enhancing the retail food environment index (RFEI) with neighborhood commuting patterns: a hybrid human− environment measure. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(17), 10798.

Educational Background

  • Ph.D. in Geography, State University of New York at Buffalo, 2010
  • M.S. in GIScience, Nanjing University, 2005
  • B.S. in Geography, Nanjing University, 2002

Current Graduate Students

PhD

Debjani Das

Patrick Danso

Recent Graduate Students

Master’s

  • Jaiwen Zhang (2019)
  • Jue Yang (2018)
  • Guangran Deng (2018)
  • Sheldon Waugh (2014)
  • Mike Falkner (2013)
  • Nirav Patel (2012)

PhD

  • Dr. Dawn Nekorchuck (2017)
  • Dr. Ying Wang (2014)