Current instructor
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Class is well organized and labs are successful tools to challenge students and learn the material. I appreciated the specificity of this course to geography, particularly the real-life examples in labs and connections to previous GIS knowledge.Rate My Professors ↗
Professor Gao is a genuinely compassionate teacher. For some similar 'esoteric' courses in the past I've had professors get annoyed by more fundamental questions/when students are struggling to grasp a concept, but Professor Gao seriously valued every question I heard asked and gave encouraging and comprehensive answers.Rate My Professors ↗
Song is very knowledgeable and talented, with strong geospatial industry experience. I enjoyed his lectures a lot. It is not easy to get A in his class as it requires programming and heavy labs. You need to make great efforts and practice more to achieve the best grade.Rate My Professors ↗
This class is absolutely awful if you do not have prior CS experience. Having taken GEOG 377, I thought I would be prepared and I was dead wrong. The labs are astoundingly difficult (and I'm not dumb by any means, I literally had a 4.0, which this class ruined). Song is a terrible lecturer and I learned absolutely nothing in class.Rate My Professors ↗
This was a good class; I enjoyed it and felt like I learned a lot. I was thankful that the course was taught using Python3 and Jupyter Notebooks. these are great tools to use for spatial analysis and this course improved my abilities to use them for geospatial analysis, particularly Pandas and GeoPandas.Rate My Professors ↗
This was one of the most challenging classes I have taken but I feel more confident in my code writing and more prepared for my future career now because of it.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
COMPSCI 899 is a pre-dissertator research course for master's graduates preparing for doctoral dissertation work under faculty supervision.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
COMPSCI 990 is an advanced mentored reading and research course for students with dissertator status.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Introduction to Geocomputing focusing on Python scripting for geoprocessing using ArcGIS and open-source libraries.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
Song Gao teaches Python programming with geospatial applications, using practical examples and concise lectures that many students find helpful and engaging. Reviewers appreciate his industry knowledge and the relevance of course material to GIS topics.
GEOG 560 covers advanced quantitative methods for analyzing spatial distributions using multivariate techniques.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
Song Gao teaches GEOG 560 with high enthusiasm and deep knowledge of geospatial data science, R, and spatial statistics. Reviewers praise his patience and the course's effective design for preparing students with limited prior experience in these areas.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Fall 2025 · limited sampleGEOG 681 is a mentored study course for seniors completing honors theses in geography.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
GEOG 692 is a mentored study course for seniors completing theses.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sampleGEOG 699 is a directed study course allowing students to conduct independent research or study arranged with a faculty member.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sampleGEOG 990 is an individual mentored study course for completing theses, arranged with a faculty member.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
GEOG 999 is an independent study course allowing students to arrange specific work with a faculty member.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=1 letter grades).
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample| Term | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | COMPSCI 899 | Pre-dissertator Research |
| Fall 2026 | COMPSCI 990 | Dissertation |
| Fall 2026 | GEOG 378 | Introduction to Geocomputing |
| Fall 2026 | GEOG 560 | Advanced Quantitative Methods |
| Fall 2026 | GEOG 681 | Senior Honors Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | GEOG 692 | Senior Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | GEOG 699 | Directed Study |
| Fall 2026 | GEOG 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | GEOG 999 | Independent Work |
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
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