Waishan is an urban researcher and designer. His research utilizes spatial analysis, sensing technology, and AI to improve mobility, shareability, and sustainability. He has been involved with various data-driven research and smart city projects across the world in places like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the U.S., and China. He obtained a Ph.D. in Regional Science’22 from Cornell University, an M.C.P.’17 from MIT, an M.Arch.’14 with distinction from UCL, and a B.E.’ 13 from Tongji University. His previous lab experiences include the MIT Center for Advanced Urbanism, the MIT Senseable City Lab, the MIT STL Real Estate Entrepreneurship Lab, and Harvard Evidence for Policy Design.

Waishan actively participates in many publications, lectures, and exhibitions. He co-instructed design workshops for digital conferences including the CAADRIA 2021-2023 and the Digital Futures 2020. He co-authored papers and also serves as a reviewer for top-ranking peer-reviewed journals like Landscape and Urban Planning, Journal of Transport Geography and Cities. His exhibitions included ‘3RD VISION’ for the 2019 Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB), Housing+ Biennale (2017) at MIT, and ‘the Big Data, Visualization, and Society’ (2016). He was also a speaker on smart cities and big data topics, for universities and institutions including Harvard Graduate School of Design, Columbia University, Iowa State University, and Chongqing University. Waishan is also an entrepreneur and honoree of Forbes China 30U30 in 2019. He co-founded three startups with a shared focus on urban entrepreneurship, looking at design thinking education, AI-enhanced driving safety systems and urban development strategies respectively.

Waishan is open to applications from prospective PhD students, Postdocs, and research assistants. Visit www.qiuwaishan.com for more details.