Jiashu Hu
PhD Affiliate Purdue University
Jiashu Hu is a Ph.D. student at Purdue University's Bowen School of Construction who works closely with the Department of Political Science. He uses satellite remote sensing, computer vision, and AI to monitor conflict, infrastructure, and economic activity, and contributes AI tools to GRAIL's Political Deepfakes Incident Database.
Research at GRAIL
More about Jiashu
Jiashu Hu is a Ph.D. student at Purdue University’s Bowen School of Construction (Purdue Polytechnic Institute), co-advised by Prof. Liana Eustacia Reyes of the Department of Political Science and Prof. Clark A. Cory. He is also a Graduate Research Fellow in the Law and Conflict (LAC) Lab. His research combines satellite remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and AI to measure how conflict and disaster affect infrastructure, economies, and society in places where ground access is impossible; for example, he has tracked the collapse and gradual recovery of economic activity in Khartoum, Sudan, using night-time lights and multiple conflict-event datasets. He holds an M.Sc. in Geomatics Engineering from the University of Stuttgart and bachelor’s degrees in surveying engineering and environmental art design from Nanjing Forestry University.
At GRAIL, Jiashu has contributed AI and computer-vision tools to the Political Deepfakes Incident Database (PDID). His broader interests include AI governance, technology and industrial policy (including a comparative study of semiconductor policy in Europe and the United States), and the use of open-source intelligence in international affairs. He has also built his own desktop software for satellite radar analysis and writes on diplomatic history for H-Diplo.