Zhenghong Tang

Zhenghong Tang

Zhenghong Tang

Professor & Director of the Community & Regional Planning Program

Brief Vitae

Dr. Zhenghong Tang is professor and director of the Community and Regional Planning Program, and also a faculty fellow in the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, the Center for Great Plains Studies at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Dr. Tang teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in CRPL 470/870 Environmental Planning and Policy, CRPL 433/833 GIS in Environmental Design and Planning, CRPL 471/871 Environmental Impact Assessment, CRPL 472/872 Hazard Mitigation Planning, and CRPL 802 Planning Theory.

Research Interests

Dr. Tang’s major research interests address environmental planning, hazard mitigation, and geospatial science and technology. His overall research focuses on the integration of local planning tools with strategic environmental management and hazard mitigation. Three primary research categories are active in his research agenda:

(1) Promoting “integrated planning” approach to improve state and local planning capacity for extreme hazards and community resilience: His research evaluates a series of state and local plans (comprehensive plans, hazard mitigation plans, emergency operations plans, climate action plans, and watershed plans) and emphasizes using the “integrated planning” approach to improve state and local planning capacity for long-term, uncertain, strategic environmental and hazard challenges, such as drought and flood. He also collaborates with state and local planning agencies to promote adaptation planning practices.

• Husker research flows to help state’s water management plan
• Project to aid cities in planning for extreme weather
• Researchers probe climate’s impact on groundwater quality

(2) Building a geospatial information platform for precision conservation and environmental management: He builds a geospatial information platform that integrates low-altitude Unmanned Aerial System and environmental sensors (e.g., Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor and multispectral/thermal/oblique photogrammetry sensors) and ground measurements (e.g. Ground Penetrating Radar, field surveys) for precision conservation. The advanced high-resolution information platform improves the understanding on ecosystem services at a spatiotemporal scale, and provides scientific assistance for the federal, state, regional and local agencies in wetland restoration, watershed planning, and soil and water conservation.

Project will use drones to survey wetland habitats
• Tang's expertise furthers wetlands preservation efforts
• Geospatial technology helps restore wetlands

(3) Integrating crowdsourcing data, citizen science, and mobile devices for environmental data sharing, visualization, and decision making: He develops the GPS-synchronous mobile information system that can transfer the complex scientific environmental databases to citizens and also allow citizens to report the real-time information to stakeholders. His research lab has officially published a series of mobile information applications for iOS and Android systems.

• Tang taps mobile tech, aids access to environmental data
• UNL team to promote green infrastructure in Omaha

For more information, please visit Dr.Tang’s personal webpage: http://www.unl.edu/ztang2