Yixian Liu · 刘一贤

Geographer. Researcher. Curious about how the Earth breathes.

B.A. Geography (Hons.) candidate · Universiti Malaya · Class of 2027

1
peer-reviewed
publication
25
years of climate
data analysed
26
cities in panel
thesis study
Scroll

Personal · 01

Off the clock.

Things that compound. Atlases I couldn't yet read; portfolios I still can't fully predict; a thesis that took 25 years of data to write.

Yixian Liu portrait Headshot

Kuala Lumpur · 2026

Geography is, in one sentence, the study of why things are where they are. I haven't gotten tired of that question yet.

  1. 2023Enter Universiti Malaya · B.A. Geography
  2. 2025UMCSA Head of Organisation · 3 corporate sponsors
  3. 2025Geography Education Intern · UM Department of Geography
  4. 2026First paper accepted · CONF-MSS 2026 (Adana)
  5. 2026FYP submitted · 26-city YRD heat panel
  6. 2026 — 27Industrial training placement (open · Sept – Feb)
  7. 2027Master's intake · HKU · HKUST · CUHK · NUS · NTU
On the beach, holding sand Beach · Bali
Geography, before it's a discipline.
Paragliding over coast Paragliding · Bali
Same coastline, different scale.
Mirror selfie Off-day
Between things.
Standing by heart sculpture Uluwatu
Uluwatu, looking the other way.
01

Fitness

4× a week. Same discipline that finishes a thesis.

02

Travel

Fieldwork with a notebook.

03

Investment

A small personal portfolio. The biggest live experiment in human behaviour.

04

Technology

AI × satellites. Next decade's remote sensing.

Research · 02

Where the data
takes me.

Two questions. One published. One defended.

Methane plume detection comparison: Sentinel-5P vs MethaneSAT
Peer-reviewed · CONF-MSS 2026 · Adana, Turkey

From Pixels to Plumes

The bottleneck is not detection — it's attribution.

Sentinel-5PMethaneSAT
Pixel5.5 × 7 km100 × 400 m
Area38.5 km²0.04 km²
Plumedilutedresolved
Attributionregionwellhead
Usebackgroundenforcement

~70× finer pixel · ~1000× smaller area · the difference between "something is leaking nearby" and "that facility is leaking."

Acceptance certificate · Mentored by Prof. Hai Yan, Peking University
Final Year Project · Universiti Malaya

The geography of heat
we forgot to measure.

26 cities · 25 years · two methods · opposite conclusions.

+0.321
heat days / year
MK Z = 4.91, p < 0.001
2010–11
structural break
sequential MK
12 / 26
cities with
significant trend
Cross-sectional
ρ = −0.585
p < 0.01

"Wealthier cities are cooler."

vs.
Panel first-differences
ρ = +0.007
n.s.

No actual relationship.

Coastal cities are both wealthier and cooler — a geographic confound. Adaptation budgets followed the wrong signal.

Read the full thesis (PDF) · 15 pp · Supervised by Dr. Sheeba Nettukandy Chenoli
Regional temporal evolution of YRD heat days Spatial distribution of YRD heat days City-level Sen's slope estimates Cross-sectional vs panel correlations

Where I'm headed

Master's applications, 2027 intake.

Recommenders

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sheeba Nettukandy Chenoli

Department of Geography, Universiti Malaya

Thesis supervisor · Climatology & Meteorology

Prof. Hai Yan

Peking University

Paper mentor · Methane Remote Sensing

Faculty Support Letter

Department of Geography, FASS, UM

On file

Career · 03

What's next.

I'm looking for an industrial training placement from 14 September 2026 to 1 February 2027 — and, after that, the long arc.

What
Industrial training placement
When
14 Sept 2026 — 1 Feb 2027 · 5 months
Where
Government · University · Environmental NGO · ESG consulting
Why
Five months next to working analysts. The long arc starts there.
Yixian presenting at Universiti Malaya
In the field

Research that no one can read is research that no one uses.

GIS & Remote Sensing

ArcGIS ProAdvanced
2+ yearsFYP heat-mapping · IDW interpolation across 26 YRD cities
Google Earth EngineProficient
1.5 yearsSentinel-5P methane retrieval · MethaneSAT paper
ENVIProficient
1 yearSpectral analysis for plume attribution
QGISWorking
Cross-validationOpen-source backup workflow alongside ArcGIS

Data & Statistics

Python (pandas, scipy, matplotlib)Proficient
2 yearsAll four thesis figures · own code · publication-grade
MS Excel (Power Query, Power Pivot)Advanced
3+ years26-city × 25-year panel data wrangling · FSP-certified
Power BIProficient
1 yearFSP coursework · interactive dashboard delivery
Mann-Kendall / Sen's slope / SpearmanIndependent
From scratchImplemented and validated end-to-end in thesis

Communication

MandarinNative
Mother tongueFull access to Chinese-language research and policy sources
EnglishIELTS 6.5
Hons. courseworkThesis & conference paper written, defended in English
Stakeholder negotiation3 sponsorships closed
Head of Org. DeptUM Chinese Students Association · 3 corporate sponsors secured, 2025

What I bring

Independent research at international standard1 paper accepted · CONF-MSS 2026 · CPCI-indexed
Fast on new toolsArcGIS · Earth Engine · ENVI · Power BI · Python — all on demand
Comfortable with stakeholders3 corporate sponsorships closed · UMCSA Head of Org. Dept
Bilingual research literacyNative Mandarin · IELTS 6.5 · Chinese + English sources

Where I'd like to work

Government Agencies

Environment, land use, meteorology — where evidence still matters.

Universities & Research Institutes

Long-horizon work, peer review, methods you can stake your name on.

Environmental NGOs

Organisations that take the long view and aren't allergic to data.

ESG & Climate Consulting

Where the analysis is honest and the numbers carry consequence.

Get in touch

Let's talk.

If any of this sounds like a fit — for an industrial training placement, a research collaboration, or a graduate programme — I'd love to hear from you.

Email yixian050811@gmail.com Phone +60 11-1788 2395
Based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Download Résumé (PDF) Read the Thesis (PDF) CONF-MSS 2026 Certificate