Principal Investigator
Yonggwan Lee (이용관), Ph.D.
Assistant Professor (2024 - current)
Asia Infrastructure Research Center (아시아시설물연구센터), Konkuk University (건국대학교)
- Office: Engineering Building A, Room 207-5 (공학관 A동 207-5호)
- Tel: (+82) 2-450-0993
- E-mail: leeyg@konkuk.ac.kr
- Google Scholar: scholar.google.com
- ORCID: 0000-0001-7681-8982
I am an Assistant Professor at the Asia Infrastructure Research Center, Konkuk University, where I combine a deep understanding of hydrological physical mechanisms with artificial intelligence to address challenges in water resources management. My research spans the full cycle of the water resources field — from satellite remote sensing-based monitoring of evapotranspiration, soil moisture, and drought (using MODIS, VIIRS, COMS, and Sentinel-1 SAR data), to the analysis of streamflow depletion causes based on LEESMORM, a distributed hydrological model I developed myself, to predictive research incorporating deep learning and explainable AI (XAI).
I have published numerous papers in leading journals such as Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies and Agricultural Water Management, and I lead multiple government-funded national R&D projects as Principal Investigator, focusing on climate change response and ecological flow securing technologies. Guided by a research philosophy of “theory-grounded data science,” I strive to integrate domain knowledge in hydrology with cutting-edge AI technologies, working alongside my students to build a practice-oriented research and education environment.
Research Interests
- Physically-based distributed hydrological modeling (물리기반 분포형 수문모델링)
- Remote sensing-based hydrological informatics (원격탐사 기반 수문 정보화)
- AI/machine learning-based water resources prediction (AI/머신러닝 기반 수자원 예측)
- Physics-informed & explainable AI (PINN/XAI) for hydrology (물리정보 및 설명가능 AI 기반 수문해석)
- Streamflow depletion & ecological flow assessment (하천 갈수 및 생태유량 평가)
- Drought monitoring and prediction (가뭄 모니터링 및 예측)
Education
Doctor of Philosophy (03/2018 – 08/2022)
Department of Civil, Environmental, and Plant Engineering, Konkuk University
- Dissertation: “Development of Grid-Based Continuous Hydrologic Model Considering Dam and Weir Release and Deep Learning-Based Iterative Forecasting of Streamflow”
- Advisor: Dr. Seongjoon Kim
Master of Science (03/2014 – 02/2016)
Department of Civil and Environmental System Engineering, Konkuk University
- Thesis: “Estimation of spatial evapotranspiration for South Korea by modifying meso-scale SEBAL model”
- Advisor: Dr. Seongjoon Kim
Bachelor of Science (03/2008 – 02/2014)
Department of Civil and Environmental System Engineering, Konkuk University
Career
- 04/2024 – Present: Assistant Professor, Asia Infrastructure Research Center, Konkuk University
- 09/2023 – 03/2024: Research Professor, Asia Infrastructure Research Center, Konkuk University
- 09/2022 – 08/2023: Postdoctoral Researcher, Asia Infrastructure Research Center, Konkuk University
Professional Activities
- The Korea Water Resources Association (한국수자원학회)
- The Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies (한국지리정보학회)
- The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers (한국농공학회)
- The Korean Society of Civil Engineers (대한토목학회)
- The Korean Society of Remote Sensing (대한원격탐사학회)
Patents
- 2022.04.20: Seongjoon Kim, Yonggwan Lee, Patent No. 10-2390061, Method for Evaluating Streamflow Depletion and Apparatus for Performing the Same (하천 건천화 평가 방법 및 이를 수행하는 장치들)
Subjects
- COMPUTER PROGRAMMING (Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Fall 2026)
- APPLICATION ENGINEERING OF SATELLITE IMAGES (Spring 2024, Spring 2026)
- SPATIAL HYDROLOGY (Fall 2025)
- INTRODUCTION TO COASTAL ENGINEERING AND MODELING (Spring 2026)