NASA SMAP Science Team Meeting at Arcadia, California: Advancing Korean Water Resources Satellite Validation

Kunhee, Hai, Venky each received a Best Presentation Award at the 2026 Korea Water Resources Association (KWRA) Annual Conference, held May 20–22, 2026.

Highlights from our lab's presentations at the NASA SMAP Science Team Meeting, 2026.

Prof. Kim presented research on AI-enabled Earth observation for monitoring and predicting droughts and floods at the Asian Development Bank headquarters in Manila.

Prof. Kim has been appointed Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, a leading global journal in remote sensing and geoscience.

PhD student Subin Kim has been selected for the AGU Hydrology Section Remote Sensing Technical Committee Outstanding Student Presentation Award at the AGU Fall Meeting 2025 for her work on deep learning-based surrogate modeling for land data assimilation.

At AGU 2025, our group actively contributed to the global hydrology community through research presentations and scientific leadership. The week highlighted our expanding role in shaping the future of satellite hydrology and AI-driven Earth system science.

This blog highlights the visit of researchers from Technische Universität Dresden to the HydroAI Lab, where both teams discussed integrating physical forest health models with AI and remote sensing data. The collaboration focuses on improving prediction of forest stress and ecosystem resilience using multi sensor observations and advanced modeling approaches.

This blog shares the recent interview between Campbell Scientific and our lab, highlighting global interest in Koreas NASA satellite core validation site. The story covers why the site is unique, how it supports next generation Earth observation missions, and what this recognition means for Koreas growing role in the international remote sensing community.

As part of the GIST-NASA-MIT Workshop, participants including Prof. Dara Entekhabi (MIT) and Dr. Simon Yueh (NASA JPL) visited the GIST-NASA Core Validation Site in Hampyeong, where they observed advanced soil moisture monitoring systems and a drone flight demonstration showcasing UAV-based remote sensing for satellite calibration and hydrological research.

From October 20 to 22, Professor Hyunglok Kim at GIST hosted the GIST-NASA-MIT Workshop on Remote Sensing and AI. Experts from MIT and NASA JPL joined GIST researchers to share advances in satellite hydrology, visit the Hampyeong Core Validation Site, and plan future collaboration. The event strengthened international partnerships and provided valuable learning opportunities for students.

Kunhee Park and Suah Cho were awarded a prestigious scholarship from the National Research Foundation of Korea, which supports graduate students with 12 million won in research funds for one year based on the evaluation of their proposals.

From July 27 to August 2, nine students attended AOGS 2025 at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. They joined hydrology, AI, and climate sessions.

Attending the KWRA conference was a valuable opportunity to engage with cutting-edge water resources research. We gained deeper insight through in-person sessions, especially the AGU-KWRA joint talks, and learned from active discussions with presenters.

We enjoyed a memorable evening of basketball and camaraderie with Professor Venkataraman Lakshmi, President-Elect of the AGU Hydrology section, who later delivered an insightful seminar on integrating land surface models and remote sensing to better understand and predict hydrological extremes like floods and droughts.

From October 7–10, 2024, NASA scientists from JPL and GSFC visited GIST and the HydroAI Lab for seminars and collaborative field visits, engaging with students and working on the development of a Core Validation Site (CVS) in Hampyeong to support soil moisture research and satellite validation efforts.

From November to December 2024, HydroAI Lab welcomed Sophia Bakar from the University of Virginia for a collaborative research stay, leading to joint AGU presentations on flash and agricultural drought prediction using deep learning and remote sensing.

HydroAI Lab students actively participated in the AOGS conference in Pyeongchang, with Aigerim Bolatbekkyzy winning Best Poster in Hydrological Sciences, highlighting the lab’s strong presence and international engagement in geoscience research.

Graduate students from HydroAI Lab traveled to Washington, D.C. to present their cutting-edge research at AGU 2024, showcasing their work on soil moisture, snow patterns, etc. to an international scientific audience.

At Korea International Water Week 2024, GIST students Subin Kim and Nayoung Kwon won first and fourth prizes, respectively, in a competitive student session on hydrology and remote sensing, judged by leading international scholars.

Our lab’s project, led by Seongjun Lee and Subin Kim, was recognized as an excellent research study under the Gwangju Climate and Energy Agency’s Small Research Grant Program for using satellite imagery and AI to analyze urban heat island trends in Gwangju.

We are proud to share that Seongjun Lee’s research, presented at AGU, has been featured on NASA Landsat Science for its innovative use of satellite and reanalysis data with deep learning to monitor water quality in Korea’s inland reservoirs.

HydroAI lab members visited the Unite States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to exchange insights on soil moisture monitoring and explore joint research opportunities, including establishing domestic cal/val sites for satellite-based hydrological remote sensing.

We visited NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to exchange research on water resources management using Earth observation satellites and explore opportunities for international collaboration in satellite-based hydrology.

Subin Kim, an Integrated MS/PhD student, was awarded a prestigious scholarship from the National Research Foundation of Korea, which supports graduate students with 12 million won in research funds for one year based on the evaluation of their proposals.

HydroAI Lab participated in the 2024 KWRA Conference at Jeju, gaining valuable experience through presentations, networking, and exposure to cutting-edge water research.