Keynote Speakers

Prof. José Javier López
Minnesota State University in Mankato, USA

 

José Javier López is Professor of Geography at Minnesota State University in Mankato. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and received a doctorate degree in geography from Indiana State University. Following graduation, he moved to Minnesota and began a career in geographic education. Since becoming a faculty member of MSU’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the late 1990s, Lopez has researched different issues pertinent to the social geography of the United States and Latin America. Over the years he has taught many systematic courses, including Spatial Statistics, Spatial Analysis, Cultural Geography, Economic Geography, Social Geography, and Rural Development.

Title: The Use of Spatial Analysis Technology to Understand the Geography of Missing Persons
Abstract: A family member or friend going missing is every person’s worst nightmare. That is a real problem in United States as it is in many places where inequality dominates the social landscape. According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, between 2007 and 2020, an average of 664,776 missing persons records annually were entered into the National Crime Information Center. Even though this is a grave social problem, there is a very limited number of academic research on this subject. The purpose of our work is to provide a geographic perspective to the issue of missing persons by analyzing geographic patterns of missing people in the American state of Iowa. Spatial Analysis Technology help us understand the regional dynamics of the problem in the American heartland.

 

 

Prof. Song Yan
Jacobs University Bremen, Germany

Prof. Dr. Song YAN is Professor of Psychology at Jacobs University Bremen, Germany. Dr. Yan graduated from Peking University with Bachelor of Philosophy and Bachelor of Science in Psychology degrees. She gained a master’s degree from the University of Bonn and a doctoral degree in natural sciences (Dr. rer. nat.) from the University of Göttingen. She has held a number of honorary academic positions in China: adjunct, guest and honorary distinguished professor. Her main research interest has been cultural influences/language effects on mental processes and behavior, focusing on basic processes such as memory, attention, mathematical operations, and language processing, as well as subjective well-being, parenting, and education. She was the main contributor to the chapter on cross-cultural cognitive research in the German Encyclopedia of Psychology, she is currently an editorial board member and reviewer for several academic journals. As well as basic research, she has carried out studies in applied settings, including cross-cultural management, leadership, intercultural communication. She has been a consultant for multinational companies. Professor Yan has been a keynote speaker at a number of international conferences.