J (Jiayan) Zhao, PhD

Jiayan Zhao received his bachelor’s degree in Geological Engineering from Central South University (2014), and an MA in Geography from the State University of New York at Albany (2016). He holds a PhD from the Pennsylvania State University (2020) for his research on spatial learning in virtual environments. Jiayan is broadly interested in immersive technologies and their application in human-space interaction, environmental data visualization, digital twins, and place-based education.