Charles Chang

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I am a computational social scientist who specializes in leveraging large-scale spatial data, especially those from smartphone social media. The Big Data I use have helped me in the scientific measurement and causal identification of several social science and humanistic fields by drawing on data from a wide range of sources, including geospatial, textual, network, and visual information. My first book project, “Technologies Affecting Information Exchange in Contemporary China: Green Leap Forward?” examines how the physical environment of cities shapes political communication, a phenomenon that is previously thought only tightly controlled by a relentless authoritarian regime.

Academic Positions

Education

2016

Gaylord Nelson Institute, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Ph.D., Environment and Resources (major), Geography (minor)
Committee: Melanie Manion (chair), Scott Gehlbach, Pierre Landry, A-Xing Zhu, Qunying Huang
Dissertation: Using New Communication Technologies to Study Contemporary China

2013

Gaylord Nelson Institute, University of Wisconsin–Madison
M.Sc., Environment and Resources
Thesis: Understanding Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Urban Expansion in Western China

2009

Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
Ph.D. student, Quantitative Remote Sensing

2006

Beijing Normal University, Beijing
B.Sc., Cartography and Geographic Information Systems