Hao Huang

Associate Professor of Social Sciences

Hao Huang’s expertise is in the areas of economic geography and development, urban geography and planning, GIS, and quantitative methods. Her research interests are focused on the spatial patterns, dynamics, and mechanisms of economic activities, and their effects at different space-time scales. Specifically, at the international and regional levels, she is interested in locational choices and determinants of global economic activities, including foreign direct investment and trade, and their effects on countries and metropolitan regions with respect to inequality and poverty, job creation, and innovation. At the local level, she is interested in residential and industrial location choices and their effects on cities and places with respect to agglomeration economies, housing, and built environment and health. To examine the locational decisions of individuals and firms, she uses various spatial techniques, data-driven analysis, and quantitative methods to visualize, simulate, and analyze their behaviors on locational decisions. Her area of specialty is in China and the United States. Before joining Illinois Tech in 2015, she was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Utah.

Education

Ph.D., University of Utah, Geography (2014)
M.U.P., University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Urban Planning (2008)
B.S., Wuhan University of Technology, Computer Science (1998)

Research Interests

Globalization, foreign direct investment and trade, geography and development

Urbanization, housing and built environment, amenities and health

Sustainability, energy and society, inequality and poverty

GIS and cartography, spatial statistics and analysis, big data analytics

Science and technology, research and development, innovation

Awards

Outstanding Research Award, Annual Conference of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology in Utah, 2014-2015
OpenStreetMap Scholarship, Annual State of the Map US Conference, 2014.
AAG Dissertation Research Grant, 109th Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, 2013
University Graduate Research Fellowship, University of Utah, 2012-2013
Karen R. Polenske Best Student Paper Award, 6th International Association for China Planning Conference, 2012.
Best Student Paper Award, China Geography Specialty Group, 107th Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, 2011.
Ambassador Scholarship, The International Center, University of Utah, 2010