Kyung-Ja Ha

Kyung-Ja Ha is a climate physicist from South Korea. She has been a professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Pusan National University since 1994 and leads the Global Monsoon Climate Lab (GMCL). Her research interests include climate physics, monsoon dynamics, planetary boundary layer modeling, hydroclimate, and tropical-extratropical interaction. Prof. Ha's work has been cited about 7,000 times, with an h-index of 44 and an i10-index of 153. She served as president of the Korean Meteorological Society from 2022 to 2023, and has been involved in advisory roles at the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology of South Korea(2022~2023). Currently, she is co-chair of the Expert Team on Climate Impact on Monsoon Weather in the WMO/WWRP Monsoon Panel since 2017, executive editor at Climate Dynamics Journals since 2021, and chair of the Local Advisory Committee of the 2024 Asia Oceania Geosciences Society. Through her research and leadership roles, she has contributed to the understanding of monsoon systems and climate dynamics.

Education
She received a B.S. and a M.S. at Pusan National University and Seoul National University, respectively. She received a Ph.D. from Yonsei University in 1992.

Research Interests
Her main research areas are monsoon climate, climate dynamics, and global hydroclimate change. She is the director of the Research Center for Climate Sciences at Pusan National University, which she has led since 2014. In addition to her research work, she has served in various leadership roles, including as Vice Chair of the National Committee of Future Earth in Korea, and as a board member and auditor for the APEC Climate Center.

Career
She has been a professor at Pusan National University in Republic of Korea since 1994. She has been honored with numerous awards, including the Excellent Scientist Korea Nobel Science Award in 2022 and the Unjae Academy Award from the Korean Meteorological Society in 2019. Her extensive publication record, with over 6,800 citations of her work according to Google Scholar, further attests to the impact of her research.


 * 1984–1985: Research assistant at Yonsei University
 * 1993: post-doctoral position at MRI/JMA, Japan (supervisor: Tatsushi Tokioka)
 * 1994–present: Prof. of Atmospheric Sciences, Pusan Nat. Univ., Korea
 * 1996: Visiting scholar CSRP at Texas A&M University (work with Prof. Gerald North), USA
 * 1999–2000: Visiting assistant professor at College of Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences (COAS)/OSU (supervisor: Prof. Larry Mahrt), USA
 * 2000–2003: Editor in chief, editorial board of “Atmosphere”, bulletin of Korean Meteorological Society
 * 2002–2004: Director, Women’s studies Center, Pusan National University, Korea
 * 2002–2005: Courtesy prof. of COAS, Oregon State Univ. USA
 * 2003–2009: Director of Busan Women in Scientist and Engineers (Busan WISE) Center
 * 2004–2005: Chief of education committee of Korean Meteorological Society
 * 2004–2007: Minister Advisory Committee of Ministry of Science & Technology
 * 2004–2014: Board Member of Korean Meteorological Society
 * 2005–2011: Auditor, APEC Climate Center, Busan, Korea
 * 2006–2009: President of a branch for Busan & Kyungnam region, The Association of Korean Women Scientists and Engineering
 * 2008: Chair of subdivision on fundraising, Local Advisory Committee of 2008 Asia Oceania Geosciences Society
 * 2008: Editor in Atmospheric Science, Vol 16, Advances in Geosciences, World Scientific
 * 2008–present: Editor, Atmospheric Oceanic Sciences Letter, IAP/China Academy of Science
 * 2010: Lead author, chapter 5, Korean Climate Change Assessment Report
 * 2011–2014: Board member, APEC Climate Center, Busan, Korea
 * 2011–2017: Principal Investigator, Global Research Laboratory on ”Global monsoon climate change”, Korea national research foundation
 * 2012: Committee, East Asian Climate(EAC)
 * 2012–2013: Vice-president, Korean Meteorological Society, Korea
 * 2014–present: Director, Research Center for Climate Sciences, PNU, Korea
 * 2014–present: Lead author, chapter 10, Korean Climate Change Assessment Report
 * 2016–2017: Lead Guest editor, special issue on “Asian Monsoon climate change”, Asia-Pacific Journal of Atmospheric Sciences
 * 2016–2017: Vice-president, Korean Meteorological Society, Korea
 * 2016–present: Fellow, The Korean Academy of Science and Technology(KAST). Member of Steering committee on Science division of KAST
 * 2016–present: Member, Korea committee of “Future Earth”, ICSU
 * 2017–2018: Committee member of Expert Committee on Energy and Environment, Korea National Science and Technology Council
 * 2017–present: Chair, Environmental Safe Division, Advisory Committee for National Life Science, KOFST
 * 2017–present: Editor, the Earth and Environmental Sciences section of the board, Nature Scientific Report
 * 2017–present: WMO/WWRP Monsoon Panel, co-chair of Expert Team on Climate Impact on Monsoon Weather
 * 2018–2020: Co-chair, Local Advisory Committee of 2020 Asia Oceania Geosciences Society
 * 2018–2020: Vice-president, Korea Geoscience Union
 * 2018–2021: Board member, The Busan National Science Museum
 * 2020–2022: Advisory committee, Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology
 * 2020–present: Chair, Local Advisory Committee of 2024 Asia Oceania Geosciences Society
 * 2021–2021: Senior vice President of Korean Meteorological Society
 * 2021–present: Executive editor, Climate Dynamics
 * 2022–2023: President of Korean Meteorological Society
 * 2022–present: Advisory committee, Ministry of Environment

Honors and awards

 * 2001: Songcheon Award (Best Academic Award), The Korean Meteorological Society
 * 2003: Honor Award, Korea Ministry of Science & Technology
 * 2008: Best Research Award, Korea Ministry of Education, Science & Technology
 * 2011: Global Research Laboratory fund, Korea National Research Fund, for years of 2011–2017
 * 2011: Korea 100 top researcher award, National Science & Technology Council
 * 2011: The premium professor award, Pusan National University, Busan, Korea
 * 2012: National medal for Science and Technology, Korea Ministry of Science, Technology, and Education
 * 2012: The 11th Busan Science & Technology Award, Busan City, Korea
 * 2016: Editor contribution award, IAP/CAS, China
 * 2019: Honor Award, Minister, Ministry of Science and ICT
 * 2019: Unjae Academy Award, Korean Meteorological Society
 * 2021: 64th Busan Cultural Award
 * 2022: Excellent Scientist, Korea Nobel Science Award

Publications

 * Publications - GMCL, Pusan National University