Welcome to my Personal Website
Hello everyone! Welcome to my personal website. I am currently a Ph.D. student at Geography Department, University of Connecticut. Here, you can find my academic achievement, including teaching, research, and professinoal develpment, as well as some interesting parts of my life.I have successfully defended my dissertation and will earn my degree in May, 2013, thanks to all who have helped my in and outside my department during my study. Now I am mainly looking for faculty opportunities in colleges and universities in the US. My dream is to find a place where I can continue to carry on my research on issues related to economic geography, spatial analysis, spatial statistics, and GIS, and can also fulfill my passion to teach geography and GIS. Feel free to contact me if you are interested in my research, teaching or other work.
The photo was took on a trip to Alaska on June, 2011, which is the most impressive place I have travelled so far. I love photography and you can find plenty of my photos in my website, especially in my gallery. [Photographer: Xingkang Liu]
Where I come from
I was born in a small city called Mudanjiang located at the northeast corner of China, and lived there until I went to college. It is
only small when measured by China's standard, becuase it contains almost 1 million people! About 50 miles from the China-Russia border,
It is famous for its cold winter and people call it Snow City
. My hometown is also known for the beautiful Jingbo Lake and
Siberian tigers, a species that is nearly extinct. It is such a lovely place!
I went to the Nanjing University after graduating from high school. Nanjing, not far from Shanghai, was capitals for six dynasties in China's long history and today it is one of the largest and globilized cities in China. It is also a major destination for international tourists, so if you have a chance please come to visit and you will enjoy the city and the people living there.
This is a quiet, small villiage near my hometown, where a ski resort opened a few years ago. I love skiing and I love the beautiful view of this place.[Photographer: Zhiqiang Liu]
What I like to do
I love geography, economics, and GIS, of course; and like most geographers, I have multiple interests in life. First of all, reading takes me much leisure time, and I can not live without books. I enjoy reading novels, classic and modern. However, I especially like reading history, mainly Chinese history, European history, and American history. During my years at Uconn I have read many books about the American Revolution and the Civil War, my two favorite parts in American history.
When I have a relatively long span of free time, I like to travel. I made a road trip along the whole east coast from Florida to Connecticut, touched the mighty land of Alaska, took a circle around southwest United States, and visited some other places. My camera is the best company when I travel, taking pictures of the beautiful scenes I see here and there. Photography to me is finding and recording beautiful things in life, some of which are easy to recognize by eyes while others not. You can find some of my photo collections in my gallery.
I also love sports-both playing and watching. I grew up playing soccer and I still remember the days I played for my middle school and high school.I also play basketball, volleyball, softball, and table tennis (of course, I am Chinese). When I am free, I also enjoy watching some sports on TV.
Photography is an important part of my life, and I take my camera wherever I go. [Photographer: Xingkang Liu]
My Life at Uconn
I have been a grad student at Uconn Geography for more than four years. I have got a Master's degree along the way and now I am finishing my Ph.D. degree. I've had some wonderful time here, both in academic and personal lives. The professors here are very active in research and care about the development of the students, and most students work hard in classes and in their research as well. I also make some good friends here and it really makes my life happier and easier. In retrospect, this department and university really help me in intellectual and mental development, and I am really grateful for these years at Uconn Geography. You can visit our department online at geog.uconn.edu.
At Uconn I am also active outside of our department, this picture was taken when I finished a summer institute for college teaching, offered by the Institute of Teaching and Learning (ITL), which gives opportuniites to graduate students who are enthusiastic about college teaching to learn knowlege and skills from experienced professor from different departments. I am the one at the lower right spot. [Photographer: Mohamed Faizel]