Congratulations to Dr. Lei Zou — 2025 AAG-SAM Emerging Scholar Award Winner!
- Gear Lab at TAMU
- Aug 9
- 2 min read
We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Lei Zou has been honored with the 2025 Emerging Scholar Award by the Spatial Analysis and Modeling (SAM) Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers (AAG). This prestigious award recognizes early- to mid-career scholars who have made outstanding contributions to education and research initiatives aligned with the mission of AAG‑SAM: advancing the analysis of geo-referenced data and spatial modeling methods.
Dr. Zou’s recognition comes alongside Prof. Grant McKenzie, reflecting the high regard in which both scholars are held within the SAM community. Congratulations to Dr. Zou and Dr. McKenzie for their significant achievements!
More about Dr. Zou:
Dr. Lei Zou is an Assistant Professor (and will be an Associate Professor starting in Fall 2025) in the Department of Geography at Texas A&M University, where he leads the Geospatial Exploration and Resolution (GEAR) Lab. His research focuses on building a resilient, healthy, and sustainable future through responsible thinking, geospatial AI, big data innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community outreach. Guided by the philosophy “Expect the Unexpected,” he develops responsible GIScience theories, methods, and applications. Dr. Zou leads over 20 research projects as PI or Co-PI, including serving as Principal Investigator on a $1.5 million grant from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). His work spans five key themes: (1) developing GeoAI solutions to analyze big data for improving disaster resilience; (2) applying geospatial modeling to enhance environmental health in overburdened communities; (3) leveraging social sensing to understand human–pandemic interactions and improve pandemic management; (4) designing sustainable urban environments using CyberGIS and Digital Twins; (5) revealing and mitigating the impact of social–environmental stressors on sleep health. Dr. Zou has published more than 80 articles in leading journals, conference proceedings, and books. He has received several prestigious honors, including the 2025 Early Career Fellowship in the Human Health and Community Resilience Track from the NASEM Gulf Research Program, the Global Young Scientist Award at the 2022 World Geospatial Developers Conference, and the Best Paper Award from the International Symposium on Geospatial Approaches to Combating COVID-19. Dedicated to mentoring the next generation of scientists and professionals, he currently advises seven Ph.D. students, two M.S. students, and several undergraduates. Several of his doctoral students have secured faculty positions at top-tier universities. Dr. Zou also plays an active leadership role in the academic community. He serves as Vice Chair of the International Cartographic Association’s Commission on Geospatial Analysis and Modeling, Chair of the AAG Geographic Information Sciences & Systems Group (2024–2025), a Board Director of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society, and an editorial board member for the International Journal of Digital Earth and Cartography and Geographic Information Science. He is deeply honored to be the recipient of the 2025 AAG–SAM Emerging Scholar Award.
More about the AAG SAM Emerging Scholar Award: https://aag-sam.github.io/awards.html.
Congratulations to Dr. Zou! We look forward to hearing more exciting news from GEAR Lab members!
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