Alexander Abuabara, '22

I consider myself a generalist, passionate about using teaching, research, and engineering to help folks. I love teaching, and preparing assignments and presentations that enhance learning experiences. I’m very fortunate to teach analytical and planning methods and GIS for landscape architecture and urban planning students. I strive to make each semester a great and special one. My goal is to equip students with fundamental research methods while fostering their analytical thinking and programming skills. I know that it might feel challenging at times, but these are important tools for researchers and planners. Whether it’s analyzing data, modeling scenarios, or creating visualizations, statistics and spatial analysis empower informed and impactful decisions. I encourage students to keep experimenting, exploring, and asking questions. The more they practice, the more confident they become. After all, every expert was once a beginner. Currently I’m working on my textbook that includes topics on causal inference. I also develop research to improve practices on risk assessment related to natural hazards with social impacts. The research areas I focus on are at the nexus of the subfields of urban geography and human ecology, spanning GIS to risk analysis. I use probabilistic causal analysis through influence diagrams to map risk for possible better risk communication. I’m a coding and reproducible research enthusiast, committed to employ and promote the use of open-source software and publicly available data to enhance collaboration and make education and research more accessible and transparent.

• Risk analysis through influence diagrams and graphical models (Bayesian networks)
• GIS-based models for risk assessment of social impacts and decision support systems
• Statistical computing (the R project and graphical models in R)
• Community-based participatory research
• Suicide risk assessment and prediction