Dr. Zhang is an interdisciplinary geospatial scientist with expertise in spatial data science and digital city tools. Her research centers on urban sustainability, climate change adaptation, and public health. She particularly focuses on the impacts of urban 3D morphology and canopy changes on climate-smart and resilient urban planning, and health impact assessments to improve environmental justice and urban greening efforts. At Duke Kunshan, her teaching interests encompass applied environmental science and policy, data analytics, and geographical information science.

She has been honored with the Gilbert F. White Environment and Society Fellowship and her work has been published in top-ranking journals including “Landscape and Urban Planning,” “Environmental Research Letters,” and “Landscape Ecology.”

Dr. Zhang holds an M.S. in GIS for Development and Environment from Clark University and a Ph.D. in Geography from Arizona State University. Before joining Duke Kunshan, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Riverside, and served as a visiting assistant professor of environmental studies at Oberlin College, Ohio.