Research areas

Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing, and Hydrology

Education

2018 - 2022  Ph.D.   Geography, Environment & Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University

2016 - 2018  M.Sc.   Geography, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea

2010 - 2016  B.Sc.    Geography, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea

Active Grants

Roy, D.P., Herve Kashongwe, Myung Sik Cho (Co-I), Using GEDI data to improve understanding of species-specific central Africa tropical forest regrowth. Funded by NASA ROSES-2023 A.60 Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation Science Team. Total three year budget $439,307 for March 2024 – February 2027.

Projects

(2022 - now)   Monitoring tropical forest and swamp forests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (funded by NASA GEDI Competed Science Team & Wildlife Works Carbon; Link) 

(2022 - now)   Hydrological dynamics of North and South Korea, considering the transboundary river context, infrastructure, and climate variability (Link)

(2022 - 2023)  Applications of BlackSky (new commercial satellites with 1 m spatial resolution) on monitoring terrestrial changes (funded by NASA CSDA Program; Link to Summary - 2023 AGU Poster)

(2018 - 2022)  Characterizing multi-scale impacts of hydro-dams on ecosystems and society under climate change in Southeast Asia  (Link)

Publications

Kashongwe, H. B., Roy, D. P., Cho, M. S., Hakkenberg, C., & Bwangoy, J. R. (2026). GEDI observations of foliar height diversity track regrowth trends in the humid tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Environmental Research Letters, 21,144022.

Cho, M. S., & Qi, J. (2025). Remote sensing-based assessment of dam impacts on hydrology, geomorphology, ecosystems, and society–a review. Environmental Earth Sciences, 84(12), 344.

Cho, M. S., Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H.B., Yan, L., Shen, M. (2025). Assessment and improvement of GEDI canopy height estimation in tropical and temperate forests. Science of Remote Sensing. 100221.

Lee, S., Cho, M.S., & Peng, T-Q. (2024). Understanding Sentiment towards Racial Unrest through Temporal and Geographic Lenses: A Multilevel-Analysis across Metropolitan Areas in the United States. Frontiers in Communication, 9, 1259046.

Cho, M. S., & Park, J. (2024). Spatiotemporal lake area changes influenced by climate change over 40 years in the Korean Peninsula. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 1144.

Cho, M. S., & Qi, J. (2023). Determination of Spatial Pattern of Environmental Consequences of Dams in Watersheds. Land, 12(12), 2154.

Cho, M. S., & Qi, J. (2023). Characterization of the impacts of hydro-dams on wetland inundations in Southeast Asia. Science of the Total Environment, 864, 160941. (Link to Google Earth Engine API Interactive Map)

Fan, P., Cho, M. S., Lin, Z., Ouyang, Z., Qi, J., Chen, J., & Moran, E. F. (2022). Recently constructed hydropower dams were associated with reduced economic production, population, and greenness in nearby areas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(8), e2108038119.

Cho, M. S., & Qi, J. (2021). Quantifying spatiotemporal impacts of hydro-dams on land use/land cover changes in the Lower Mekong River Basin. Applied Geography, 136, 102588

Recent Presentations

Cho, M.S., Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H., Skole, D.L., Combining GEDI and Landsat-based satellite forest cover loss data to improve understanding of Democratic Republic of Congo humid tropical and subtropical forest regrowth and carbon sequestration, Poster in Tropical Forests Under a Changing Environment, Fall Meeting, AGU, New Orleans LA, 14 - 19 December 2025.

Kashongwe, H., Roy, D.P., Cho, M.S., Hakkenberg, C.R., Bwangoy, J.R., GEDI observations of foliage height diversity track regrowth trends in the humid tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Presentation in Forest Structural Diversity: Metrics, Methods, and Link to Ecosystem Functions session, Fall Meeting, AGU, New Orleans LA, 14 - 19 December 2025.

Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H., Cho, M.S., Skole, D., Bwangoy, J.R., Using GEDI data to improve understanding of species-specific central Africa tropical forest regrowth, GEDI Science Team Meeting, University of Maryland, 4600 River Road, Riverdale, MD, 1-3 April 2025. 

Cho, M.S., Roy, D., Kashongwe, H.B., Significantly improved GEDI canopy height estimation in tropical and temperate forests by Airborne Laser Scanner (ALS) surface and then canopy height calibration, Poster in Advances in Tracking Global Change: Insights from NASA’s Satellite Laser Altimetry Missions (ICESat, ICESat-2, and GEDI) and the Path to EDGE I, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Washingon D.C., US, December 9-13, 2024

Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H.B., Cho, M.S.,  Skole,D., Bwangoy, J.R. 2024. Combining GEDI, satellite forest cover loss maps, and airborne remote sensing to improve understanding of species-specific central Africa tropical forest regrowth and carbon sequestration. Session: Global Carbon Cycle Observation and Analysis (A-CG35). Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2024, Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan

Cho, M.S., Roy, D., Huang, H., Qiu, Yuean, Hugo D.L., Potential and constraints of commercial high spatial and temporal resolution BlackSky imagery for land science applications – a multi-sensor comparison, Poster in Commercial Earth Observation Data: Research and Applications session, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, US, December 11-15, 2023.

Cho, M.S., Huang, H., Roy, D., Evaluation of BlackSky Imagery for burned area mapping applications, NASA CSDA BlackSky Evaluation Team – Midterm Review Workshop, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, US, January 19-20 2023.

Roy, D., Huang, H., Cho, M.S., Yan, L., Boschetti, L., Martins, V., The potential of commercial high resolution satellite data for detailed burned area mapping, 5th Joint GOFC-GOLD Fire Implementation Team – Global Wildfire Information System Meeting, Stresa, Italy, June 21-23 2022.

Cho, M.S., Qi, J., Quantification of spatial effects of dams on watersheds using watershed topology and cloud computing platform, 2022 American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, virtual, Feb 25-Mar 1 2022.

Cho, M.S., Qi, J., Quantifications on Distant Effects of Dams on the Environment and Society in the Southeast Asia, 2021 University Consortium for Geographic Information Science Symposium, virtual, Jun 7-9 2021.

Previous Appointments

2022 - 2026   Postdoctoral Research Associate, Michigan State University (supervisor: Dr. David Roy)

2022               Student Fellow, NASA DEVELOP (Digital Earth Virtual Environment and Learning Outreach Program)

2018 - 2022   Research Assistant, Michigan State University (supervisor: Dr. Jiaguo Qi)

2016 - 2018   Teaching Assistant, Kyung Hee University

2014 - 2018   Research Assistant, Kyung Hee University (supervisor: Dr. Jinmu Choi)

2012 - 2014   GIS Analyst, Korea Army

Services 

2024 - now   Member, GEDI Competed Science Team

2023 - now   Early Adopter, NASA-ISRO SAR Mission

2021 - 2023  Student Director, Water Resources Specialty Group, American Association of Geographers

2019 - 2020  Student Board Member, Korean-American Association for Geospatial and Environmental Sciences