Wenjie Sun

  • Professor of Geospatial Science, Computer Science, and Asian Studies
    Email Address:
    wsun@jackrabbitreds.com
    Office location:
    Straz Center 290
    Phone
    262-551-5708

    Professor Wenjie Sun joined Carthage in 2006. She is originally from Harbin City in northeastern China. She earned her B.S. in geography with a minor in economics from Beijing (Peking) University. Prior to Carthage, she went to graduate school at Indiana University-Bloomington, where she received her M.A. in geography, M.S. in computer science, and Ph.D. in geographic information science (GIS). Prof. Sun teaches courses in geographic information science (GIS), satellite image and air photo analysis (remote sensing), human geography, and geography of East Asia. She has also led multiple interdisciplinary themed J-Term study tours to various parts of China and Japan.

    Prof. Sun has been conducting research projects using GIS and remote sensing (RS) techniques to examine land use and land cover change (LUCC) from the perspective of human-environment interaction. She has published in the International Journal of Geographical Information Science and given a number of talks at national and international conferences. Her recent collaborative medical and health geography research on Individual and Contextual Correlates of Cardiovascular Diseases in the United States was published in GeoJournal.

    Prof. Sun is passionate about integrating teaching, scholarship, and service through high-impact practices, such as service-learning and undergraduate research, and applying GIS and RS to a wider range of economic, social, environmental, and most recently public health studies. She has developed collaborative applied research opportunities with the Kenosha County Health Department on using GIS and spatial analysis to identify high-risk neighborhoods for the Kenosha-Racine Lead-Free Communities Partnership Program. She has worked with students on Assessing the Effect of Brownfield Redevelopment on Surrounding Residential Property Values in Milwaukee using GIS, which resulted in a publication in Moravian Geographical Reports. Between 2012 and 2022, 79 such service-learning projects have been completed, through collaboration with a wide array of community partners, from local to national, including government agencies, non-profit organizations, and small businesses.

    Some of her recent projects (United Way initiatives, Shalom Center meal distribution site selection, opioids crisis, Foxconn) have received extensive media attention and coverages on regional and local TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines. Her student researchers have presented at Posters on the Hill, National Council for Undergraduate Research (NCUR) annual conferences, Association of American Geographers (AAG) annual conferences, and Celebration of Scholars at Carthage College.

    In her spare time, Prof. Sun enjoys traveling, landscape photography, cooking, and badminton.