Sucharita Gopal

Sucharita Gopal is a Core Faculty Member of the Global China Initiative at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center and a Professor in the Department of Earth & Environment at Boston University.

Her research is multidisciplinary, dealing with spatial analysis and modeling, GIS, data mining and information visualization and artificial neural networks. She has applied spatial analysis to address a variety of problems in biology, environmental science, public health and business. She has also worked on uncertainty issues related to GIS and used neural networks for pattern classification, estimation and mixture modeling.

Her recent work includes applying ecosystem-based management to inform the planning and leasing process for offshore wind energy production in the Gulf of Maine, gendered food security in Lake Victoria and coastal ecosystem modeling, among other topics.

Over the years, she has pioneered numerous methodologies and concepts, including fuzzy sets in accuracy assessment, neural networks for pattern classification, estimation, and mixture modeling. Her work often combines data science and statistical analysis with practical applications in urban planning, systems modeling, public health and sustainable finance, resulting in holistic solutions to some of society’s most challenging problems.