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Xingjian Liu

Xingjian's PhD research aims at understanding the changing geography of the world city network in contemporary globalization with advanced analytical methods.

Biography

Education

  • Ph.D. Candidate. Geography, University of Cambridge, UK 2010-
  • MSc. Geographic Information Science, Texas State University-San Marcos, Texas, USA 2008-2010
  • BSc. Geographic Information System, Wuhan University, China 2004-2008

Awards

  • College Graduate Scholarship, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge, 2010-2011, 2011-2012.
  • Cambridge International Student Scholarship, University of Cambridge, 2010-2013.
  • Philip Lake Fund, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, 2012
  • College of Liberal Arts Graduate Scholarship, Texas State University-San Marcos, 2009-2010.
  • Honored Bachelor's Degree, Wuhan University, 2008.
  • Awards at Association of American Geographers (AAG) meetings:
    • Annual research award (1st place), AAG Graduate Affinity Group, 2012
    • Best student Paper (2nd prize), AAG Spatial Analysis and Modeling Group, 2010
    • Best Student Paper (1st place), AAG Graduate Affinity Group, 2009
    • Best Student Paper (2nd place), Southwestern Divisoin of AAG, 2008

Research

This PhD research aims at understanding the changing geography of the world city network in contemporary globalization. More specifically, I will (1) reveal the spatial and temporal patterns of global intercity connections in different dimensions of the world city network; (2) identify relationships between empirically observed properties of the world city network and other attributes; and (3) incorporate innovative modeling, analytical, and visualization techniques into the exploration of the world city network. In undertaking this work, this study will help to generate a better understanding of our increasingly inter-connected global community.

Some of my research hobbies:

  • (geo)data visualisations: a map is worth a thousand words
  • network and spatial autoregressive modeling: spatial econometrics
  • bibliometric analysis: discovery of knowledge patterns from published materials; I have also produced bibliometric reports for a variety of fields: biodiversity, urban studies, food network etc.

Publications

Journals

  • Liu, Xingjian, F. Benjamin Zhan, Song Hong, Beibei Niu, and Yaolin Liu. 2012. A bibliometric study of earthquake research: 1900–2010. Scientometrics, in press. (SCI)
  • Wang, H., Q. He, Xingjian Liu, Y. Zhuang, and S. Hong. 2011. Global urbanization research from 1991 to 2009: A systematic research review. Landscape and Urban Planning, accepted. (SCI & SSCI)
  • Liu, Xingjian, Peter Taylor. 2011. A robustness assessment of GAWC global network connectivity ranking. Urban Geography 32, 1227-37. （SSCI)
  • Liu, Xingjian, Song Hong, Yaolin Liu. 2011. A bibliometric analysis of twenty years of globalization research: 1990–2009. Globalizations, accepted. (SSCI)
  • Liu, Xingjian, Ben Derudder. 2011. Two-mode networks and the Interlocking World City Network Model: A reply to Neal. Geographical Analysis, forthcoming. (SSCI)
  • Liu, Xingjian, Ben Derudder, Yaolin Liu. 2011. GDP, livability, population, and income inequality of world cities. Environment and Planning A (featured graphics), forthcoming. (SSCI)
  • Liu, Xingjian, Zachary Neal, Ben Derudder. 2011. City networks in the United States: A comparison of four models. Environment and Planning A (featured graphics), accepted. (SSCI)
  • Liu, Xingjian, F. Benjamin Zhan. 2011. Placement of graduates in PhD-granting departments as a measure of productivity of doctoral geography programs in the United States: 1960-2008. The Professional Geographers, forthcoming. (SSCI)
  • Zou, B., FB Zhan, Y Zeng, Ch Yorke, and Xingjian Liu. 2011. Performance of Kriging and EWPM for relative air pollution exposure risk assessment. International Journal of Environmental Research 5, 769-778.
  • LeSage, James, R. Kelley Pace, Nina Lam, Richard Campanella, Xingjian Liu. 2011. New Orleans business recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A 174, 1007-27. (SCI)
  • Liu, Xingjian, Liang Zhang, Song Hong. 2010. Global biodiversity research during 1900-2009: A bibliometric analysis. Biodiversity and Conservation 20 (4), 807 - 826. (SCI)
  • Liu, Xingjian, James LeSage. 2009. Arc_Mat: A Matlab-based spatial data analysis toolbox. Journal of Geographical Systems 12 (1), 69 - 87. (SSCI)
  • Liu, Xingjian, F. Benjamin Zhan, Tinghua Ai. 2009. Road selection based on Voronoi diagrams and 'Strokes' in map generalization. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 12, S194-S202. (SCI)
  • Liu, Xingjian, Tinghua Ai, Yaolin Liu. 2009. Road density analysis based on skeleton partitioning for road generalization. Geo-spatial Information Science 12 (2), 110 - 116.

Conference proceedings

  • Gang Liu, Xingjian Liu. 2009. Research on segmentation method of hyperspectral remote sensing images based on probabilistic neural networks. Proceedings of International Conference on Earth Observation Data Processing and Analysis

Others

  • Liu, Xingjian, Tinghua Ai, Yaolin Liu. 2009. Which geographic 'panhandle' is more similar to a real world panhandle? Annals of Improbable Research.
  • LeSage, James, R. Kelley Pace, Nina Lam, Richard Campanella, Xingjian Liu. 2011. Do what the neighbours do. Significance 8, 160-163.

Conference and seminar presentations

  • Modeling the Interlocking World City Network with Exponential Random Graph Models (AAG 2012).
  • Exploring the Interlocking World City Network: A bipartite network perspective (AAG 2012).
  • A Monte Carlo examination of information criterion for comparing spatial regression models (AAG 2010).
  • Modeling business recovery in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina with spatial probit model (SWAAG 2009).
  • Road selection based on Voronoi diagrams and 'Strokes' in map generalization (AAG 2009, SWAAG 2008).
  • Arc_Mat: A Matlab-based spatial data analysis toolbox (SRSA 2009, AAG 2009).

Teaching

  • Demonstrator, GIS and Spatial Data Analysis, University of Cambridge, 2012
  • Demonstrator, Geography and Public Policy, University of Cambridge, 2011
  • Teaching Assistant, Urban Economics, Texas State University-San Marcos, 2009
  • Teaching Assistant, Econometrics, Texas State University-San Marcos, 2009

External activities