Great Problems, Great Minds Seminar Series: Crime Geography and Crime Analysis

Join the Department of Social Sciences for this Great Problems, Great Minds seminar series event featuring guest speaker Lin Liu, professor of geography and GIScience at the University of Cincinnati. Liu received his Ph.D. in geography from Ohio State University, and his master’s degree in remote sensing and his bachelor’s degree in geography from Peking University. His research centers around urban crime in the United States and China. He is regarded as a leading scholar on crime geography in the Chinese context. He has published scholarly articles on these topics in top journals such as the International Journal of Geographical Information Science, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, and the Journal of Quantitative Criminology. His research has been funded by multiple national level research grants. He has chaired more than 15 international conferences.

The virtual lecture will take place on February 16 beginning at 12:40 p.m.

Spatial analysis of crime has gained increasing attention during the past 30 years, coupled with the growth of geographic information systems. This presentation provides a theoretical framework that systematically categorizes crime geography and crime analysis into the following: uncovering spatiotemporal patterns of crime distribution, such as crime hotspots; explaining these patterns and discerning major contributing factors based on multivariate regression modeling; predicting future crime patterns using machine learning and other predictive methods; developing crime prevention approaches based on historical and future crime patterns; and evaluating the effectiveness of crime prevention, to find out if crime is reduced in the targeted area and whether the nearby areas are affected by the intervention. The latest development, opportunities, and challenges will be introduced.

This lecture, titled “Crime Geography and Crime Analysis,” will take place on Zoom.

This lecture is part of the Great Problems, Great Minds seminar series that explores the major problems facing humanity as we move into the heart of the twenty-first century. To see the full schedule and videos from previous events, visit the seminar series page.

For more information, contact Assistant Professor of Social Sciences Hao Huang at hhuang48@iit.edu.

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