Our Team

International Center for Adaptation Planning and Design

Director

Dr. Zhong-Ren Peng

Professor and Director

Organization: School of Landscape Architecture and Planning, University of Florida

Research Interests: Transportation and land use planning, Planning for climate change, Information technology for planning

Education:
Ph.D., Urban Studies, Portland State University, 1994
M.S., Economics, Portland State University, 1994
M.S., Geography, USTC, China, 1986
B.S., Geography, Central China Normal University, 1983

Email: zpeng@ufl.edu

Current Ph.D. Students

Undergraduate Students

Alumni

Visiting Scholars

Current Ph.D. Students

Khalid A. Aljuhani

Ph.D. Student

Organization: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida

Research Interests:
Smart Cities, Climate Change and Urban Resilience, Urban Renewal and Revitalization

Education:
M.S., Urban and Regional Planning, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2014
B.S., Urban and Regional Planning, King Abdulaziz University, 2009

Email: aljuhani@ufl.edu

View CV

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Qing Hou

Ph.D. Student

Organization: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida

Research Interests:
Social inequality; Urban Sustainability; Transportation

Education:
M.S., Urban Planning, University of Southern California, 2022
B.A., Landscape Architecture, Northeast Forestry University, 2020

Email: houqing@ufl.edu

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Qing Zhang

Ph.D. Student

Organization: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida

Research Interests: Climate Change and Urban Resilience; Urban Sustainability and Environmental Planning, Transportation

Education:
M.S., Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, 2023
B.A., Land Resource Management, Shandong Agricultural University, 2022

Email: qingzhang1@ufl.edu

Graduate Students

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Goshtasb Shahriari Mehr

Ph.D. Candidate

Organization: College of Design, Construction, Planning, University of Florida

Research Interests:
Transportation Planning, spatial temporal planning, recommender systems, Location-Based Services

Education:
M.Sc., Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, USA, 2025
M.Sc., Geographic Information Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran, 2019
B.Sc., Civil Engineering (Geomatics), K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, 2016

Email: g.shahriarimehr@ufl.edu

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Yuzhou Zhu

Master’s Student

Organization: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida

Research Interests: Transportation Planning, Sustainable Planning, AI for Urban Studies

Education:
M.S., Urban Analytics, University of Florida, USA, 2026–present
M.S., Building Science, University of Southern California, USA, 2022–2024
B.A., Urban and Rural Planning, Central South University, China, 2015–2020

Email: yuzhouzhu@ufl.edu

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Emily Teodoru

Master’s Student

Organization: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida

Research Interests:
Transportation Planning, Transit-Oriented Development, Health in the Built Environment

Education:
M.S., Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, US, 2027.
B.A., Public Health, University of Florida, US, 2023.
Minor, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, US, 2023.
Certificate, AI in Public Health and Healthcare, University of Florida, US, 2023

Email: teodoru.emily@ufl.edu

Undergraduate Students

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Jack Popov

Undergraduate Student

Organization: Warrington College of Business, University of Florida

Research Interests:
Transportation Planning, Consulting, Transportation Profitability

Education:
B.A., Business Administration, University of Florida, 2024 – Current
Minor, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, 2024 – Current

Email: jackpopov@ufl.edu