Developing spatial information technology and utilization services for seismic monitoring research using GPS technology

Prof. Dong Ha LEE earned his bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D all at Sungkyunkwan University in the Department of Civil Engineering. After completing his Ph.D, he worked for 5 years as a lead researcher at a specialized technology research institute related to his major. Since 2013, he has been an invited researcher at Peking University's College of Architecture in China, and an invited professor at the University of North Alabama in the U.S. for about 2 years. Currently, he is a professor in the Civil Engineering Department at Kangwon National University, where he lectures and conducts research on surveying and spatial information. Kangwon National University is making efforts to train and produce excellent students in their major fields with the operation of the Surveying and Geospatial Information Lab, which is focused on graduate students.

Prof. LEE received his bachelor's, master,'s, and doctoral degrees all from SKKU. There are many good universities in foreign countries as well, so why did Prof. LEE study at only one university? "At SKKU, there is great cooperation through the tightly-knit bonds between members," he said. "World-class faculty and excellent undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doc and invited researchers, along with the administrative faculty and staff, all guide each other in a family-like atmosphere, and a cooperative atmosphere is well-established."

This type of foundation is a very attractive condition in the field of engineering, which aims to connect and converge with other disciplines. In fact, Prof. LEE has also had a variety of exchanges with researchers in other fields during his time in graduate school. He has discovered new research fields and has published his work in many international academic journals. One particularly memorable experience was conducting a survey of the ocean floor for several months to build the first underwater tunnel in Korea, a research project with Daewoo Engineering & Construction and a research team from the Technical University of Denmark. For Prof. LEE, it is a pleasant memory that is still unforgettable, even now. The research results from this study were the subject of his doctoral dissertation.

There are two teachers who led Prof. LEE to his path as a researcher: the late Prof. Jae Hwa CHOI, who led Prof. LEE to make up his mind as an undergraduate student that he should study geodesy more in graduate school, and Prof. Hong Sic YUN, his advisor during graduate school. Prof. LEE thanks both of them for their passionate guidance and advice; without it, he would not have the confidence that he has today.

Prof. LEE teaches surveying and spatial information in the Department of Civil Engineering at Kangwon National University. In the graduate degree program, students are taught in detail about particular specialties related to geodesy, such as GPS (Global Positioning System), gravity surveying, marine surveying, and satellite remote sensing.

Prof. LEE's research plan is to develop fundamental spatial information technology and utilization services based on his major that will help the future development of Korea. Recently, his research has focused on seismic monitoring using GPS technology. Since the Gyeongju earthquake, social demand for earthquake detection and response maneuvers has been increasing. This year, the first basic research phase of seismic monitoring using GPS technology will be conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Prof. LEE will also participate in this project. Together with a domestic research team that includes the National Geographic Information Institute and the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Prof. LEE will conduct research on the development of algorithms for GPS seismic monitoring, the construction of monitoring systems, and national facilities that determine earthquake risk level.