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Biography

Myung Sik Cho is an assistant professor specializing in human-environment interactions. He is an environmental geographer whose research examines how dams, water-level rise, and other human-induced hydrologic changes reshape wetlands, forests, and carbon dynamics. His work integrates field observations, remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and high-performance computing to understand human–environment interactions across spatial and temporal scales.

His research has focused on:

1. The rapid expansion of dam construction in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Mekong River Basin, and its impacts on wetlands and land use/land cover change
2. Water resources and fluvial geomorphic dynamics in the Korean peninsula
3. Forest regrowth and carbon dynamics under UN REDD+ in Mai Ndombe, Democratic Republic of the Congo
4. Hydrologic and ecological changes associated with dam removal in the Susquehanna River Basin.

Funding

• Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H.B., Cho, M.S. (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.

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.
• 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.
• 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).

Education

• PhD in Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University
• MSc in Geography, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea
• BSc in Geography, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea

Research Profile