Research Profile

Observability, inference, and decision-making for infrastructure resilience

I study how hidden states and risks in complex physical systems can be inferred from incomplete and heterogeneous observations, and how this information can support decision-making under uncertainty. My research combines machine learning, network science, geospatial data, and remote sensing to understand how local observations relate to system-level structure, behavior, and risk. I am particularly interested in climate, energy, and infrastructure systems, where critical states are often only partially observable and where disturbances can propagate across interconnected systems. My work explores methods for state estimation, risk characterization, and data-driven modeling that can improve our understanding and resilience of these systems.

Physical Systems Sensing Inference Decision

Latest Publication

Publications

M. Zhang. "Observation-Aware Graph Transfer for Ladder Fuel Density Under Coverage Distribution Shift." , 2026. Accepted to NeurIPS 2026 Workshop: Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning

N. Kumar, M. Zhang. "Using Spatial Analytics to Address Localized Environmental Harm." Data-Smart City Solutions, 2024.

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Selected Projects

Models, measurements, and decision tools

Interactive Data Visualization

Zillow Hopes

2025

An interactive experience exploring the challenge of finding affordable housing on a below-median income. Play as a homebuyer navigating a constrained market, then examine how investor activity shapes housing availability in your municipality and weigh the policy tradeoffs along the way.

With Audrey Wei, Nathanael Jenkins, Ryan Yen

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