Michael S. Agbozo
Short Bio
Agbozo is a doctoral student in Earth System Science with a specialization in Geospatial Sciences. He explores novel methods in Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) specifically, the Convolutional Neural Networks, for selected environmental applications in mid-sized US cities. His research interests encompass Critical GIS, GIScience, Geospatial Intelligence, Satellite and Drone Remote Sensing for the exploration of special topics in geo-environmental security and geopolitics.
His current research explores emerging methods for the integration of GeoAI and Remote Sensing for tree inventorying and environmental monitoring in Auburn, Alabama. A part of his work also explores the technical, organizational and workforce factors that influence the adoption of deep learning in municipal GIS workflows while designing a capacity development framework that municipalities can use to assess their readiness for GeoAI implementation.
Education
PhD, Earth System Science Auburn University Ongoing
MS, Geography Auburn University 2024
Graduate Certificate. Geographic Information Systems Science (GISc) Auburn University 2023
BA, Geography Education University of Education, Winneba 2018
Engagement
Agbozo was deeply engaged in campus and community involvement both at the broader university level and student organizations level. He served on the Auburn University’s Administrative Review Committee in the 2022/2023 academic year, served on the International Students Advisory Group (ISAG) 2023/2024 and on the Graduate Student Council’s Welfare and Childcare Committee. In 2023/2024, Agbozo was President to the African Students Association, a period during which he and his team won the Outstanding Cultural Impact Award (AU Involvement Awards 2024) while he himself was a finalist to the Student Leader of the Year Award (AU Involvement Awards 2024). Agbozo also served on the Geosciences Graduate Students Advisory Committee (2024/2025), was Senator on the Graduate Students Council (2022/2023) and Vice-President to the Student Chapter of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS, Auburn Chapter).
He is also engaged with the broader Auburn Community via his dual role as GIS Fellow with the City of Auburn. Among other things, Agbozo curated a comprehensive cartography for the city’s Community Block Grant (2023/24), created a 2026 update of the city’s street mapbook and business continuity maps, created a virtual tour of the Pine Hill Cemetery, designed tutorials to migrate GIS Users at the city from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro, designed a deep learning model to detect and count city-owned trees in the city’s right of way, conducted QA/QC on the city’s stormwater inventory, the city’s sewer data, and designed a customer count dashboard for the environmental services to monitor trash pickup throughought the city. Together with the city’s GIS Analyst, they flew drones every two weeks to monitor and capture orthophotos of ongoing city projects for city reports and website updates.
He currently is a reviewer of Earth Sciences, Science Publishing Group (EARTH) and the COSAM Undergraduate Research Fellowship.
Selected Honors
Frank Sturm Memorial Fellow
2026
Dean’s Award for Outstanding International Student
COSAM Academic Awards
2026
Special Achievement in GIS Award
Esri
2024
Additional honors and awards are listed in the curriculum vitae.
Selected Publications
- In review: Agbozo, M. S., Marzen, L. J., Mitra, C. and Kursah, M.B., (2026). Social networks of Twitter information flow and geospatial patterns of civilian casualties during the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War. GeoJournal.
- Jones, T. W., Agbozo, M. S., Marzen, L. J., Chappelka, A. and Mitra, C. (2025). A GeOBIA-assisted framework for canopy-height estimation using airborne lidar scanning: A city-scale approach. Geocarto International, 40(1), 2515270. DOI: 10.1080/10106049.2025.2515270.
- Agbozo, M. S., Marzen, L. J. and Mitra, C. (2023). A remote-sensing investigation of the 2022 invasion of eastern Ukraine on agricultural land cover. 64.
- Kursah, M., Biniyam, S., Tarawally, M., Segbefia, D., Kunji, S., Nyametso, J., Agbozo, M., Kicheek, C., Owusu-Ansah, E. and Afriyie, A. (2023). Analysing land-cover and green-cover change in Winneba using remote sensing and geospatial techniques. In E. Y. Danso-Wiredu and J. Weiler (Eds.), Winneba: The Geography, Peoples and Systems (pp. 89–123). Digibooks Ghana Ltd.
