Team

Director

Dr. Yoo Min Park

Dr. Park is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, Sustainability, Community, and Urban Studies at the University of Connecticut (UConn). She earned a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her doctoral dissertation was recognized with the Jacques May Prize from the American Association of Geographers (AAG) as the best dissertation addressing themes in health/medical geography. Prior to joining UConn, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, Planning, and Environment at East Carolina University in North Carolina.

Her research focuses on understanding interdisciplinary questions of health disparities, environmental justice, and environmental exposure using geographic information systems (GIS). Her work has been supported by several external funding sources, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), AAG, and the North Carolina General Assembly.

Curriculum Vitae (Last update: Mar 2025)


Current Members

Tao Peng

PhD Student

Research Interest: Tao's research interest lies in the intersection between human mobility and health geography. She seeks a better understanding of the intertwined relationship between people’s travel behaviors and health outcomes. She is currently working on an interdisciplinary research project that assesses PM2.5 exposure among public transportation riders using GIS. Her personal website is https://taopeng.org/

Ailing Jin

PhD Student

Research Interest: Ailing's research focuses on environmental exposure, environmental health, and health disparities. Specifically, she is interested in investigating how the mobility patterns of different social groups influence their exposure to varying levels of air pollution and the resulting health risks. Her current projects primarily involve using portable sensors to measure environmental exposure, examining group differences in the health risks of air pollution exposure, and understanding the uncertainties associated with personal exposure assessment methods. She is currently co-advised by Drs. Yoo Min Park and Xiang Chen.

Awards: 

Past Members

This page is currently under construction...

Abdulahi Opejin

Master's Student; Currently, a PhD student in Integrated Coastal Programs at East Carolina University

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Awards: 

Denise Chavez

Master's Student; Currently, a PhD student in the Department of Geography and Geospatial Sciences at Kansas State University

Publications: 

Connolly Baxter

Undergraduate Research Assistant; Currently, a PhD student in the Department of Political Science at West Virginia University

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Awards: 

Natalia Figueroa-Bernal

Undergraduate Research Assistant; Currently, a Master's student in the Department of Public Health at East Carolina University

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Other Past Undergraduate Research Assistants: