Jetlag, Conferences, and Stories from the Capital of America

Happy New Year, everyone!

First of all, I wish you all a fantastic year ahead! 😊

As promised in my previous blog (Read: Autumn Conferences: Annyeonghaseyo to KIWW24), I want to share my experience from my trip to Washington, D.C., just before Christmas for a conference.

This was my first time flying such a longggg distance, and wow—what a ride! The jetlag hit me hard. My eyes felt unbearably heavy by 6 p.m., and I found myself wide awake at 2 a.m. when the city was fast asleep. Despite the discomfort, it was a unique experience I’ll never forget.

Now, onto Washington, D.C.! The city truly lives up to its reputation as the capital of the United States. Its urban planning is remarkable, with well-structured buildings and harmonious color palettes. Don’t just take my word for it—check out the photos below!

The Conference Experience

The conference was a massive event—my first time seeing so many students and academics gathered from all over the world to share their research. The topics were incredibly diverse, covering hardcore hydrology, geology, disasters, and climate issues.

What excited me most was the growing focus on socioeconomic issues linked to climate disasters. I presented in a special session on inequality in the Global South, which felt like a significant step forward in addressing climate justice. Kawasaki Sensei’s session also disscussed about sociohydrology issue, particularly poverty exacerbated by climate disasters. Our discussions even continued at the World Bank Headquarters—how cool is that?

 

Exploring Washington, D.C. and Beyond

While in Washington, D.C., I took some time to explore its beautiful museums and historic alleys. Each corner of the city radiated charm and history. However, I must say, everything—even mineral water!—was quite expensive, so my culinary adventures were limited ;(( - unlike Korea Hahaha!

Outside of Washington, Sensei and I toured Alexandria, a waterfront city in Virginia. We traveled there by cruise boat, which offered stunning views of the city’s picturesque buildings reflecting on the water. It was a peaceful magical trip!

A Week to Remember

Flying far from Asia for the first time, battling jetlag, attending a significant conference like AGU, visiting the World Bank Headquarters, and exploring the beauty of Washington and Alexandria—this week was truly a blissful adventure that I’ll treasure forever.

See you all again soon everyone! May this year bring us closer to our dreams and fill our hearts with peace and gratitude. #Cheers

Lots of love,

Leon

Arizona, phoenix and ASU

This is Kosame writing again haha

After I finished AGU24 in Washington, DC, I also headed to Phoenix, Arizona to meet up with an old friend of ours, Moiz !

Moiz is now working as a postdoctoral researcher at Arizona State University, and as one of my mentors and a good friend, I felt I had to seize the opportunity to meet him in the United States.

About Arizona, Phoenix and Tempe

Unlike Washington, D.C., far to the east, Arizona is located in the southwest of the United States, and the Colorado River runs through the state until it empties into the Gulf of California in Mexico.

The Arizona State University I visited is located in Phoenix, the capital city of Arizona, which is also the fifth largest city in the United States.

Mention of Arizona, can not be separated from the Grand Canyon and that bright deep red, as if mixed with purple sunset color is the name card of the state.

According to Moiz, the best season in Phoenix is winter, different from the summer when the temperature is more than 40 degrees, the winter here has been maintained at about 25 degrees, and the air is far from dry, it can be said to be quite pleasant.

The sky here is always blue, and the towering red mountains and the oasis of the city together constitute a blue - red - green color of the city landscape.

What a place.

About ASU

Arizona State University (ASU) is a public research university in the United States. Its educational philosophy is "first-class education, no one is forgotten", committed to providing students with quality education and promoting social development.

ASU's hydrology program is particularly suited for students interested in water management in arid regions, climate change adaptation, and interdisciplinary research. Its strong research centres and practical projects provide students with a wealth of learning and practical opportunities, particularly in the areas of urban water management and hydrological sustainability.

My first impression of it was a huge oasis in the middle of a red desert. The whole campus is very large, and the greening is meticulous and neat, and you can feel that every grass, tree, flower and tree in the campus are carefully and seriously treated. The convenient transportation and convenience stores everywhere give me the illusion that I am not in the United States. Coincidentally, I arrived at the time of the official graduation season for American college students. The campus is full of graduates taking graduation photos.

ASU is indeed full of beauty and dignity.

About our meet

Moiz and I haven't seen each other in a year, and while we maintain at least a bi-weekly online meeting, it's much more enjoyable to see someone in person and have a face-to-face conversation.

Moiz showed me a lot of research done by teachers and students in his school. They were all very "Solid". I felt that they were all very practical and novel. For instance, Moiz is working on identifying drought signals in Arizona. hourly and 1km data are used for analysis to analyze how drought conditions change in Arizona, and the entire research data are open access. The NOAA National Water Model CONUS Retrospective Dataset, Neural hydrology and other new technologies with open access are all very exciting. 

The most striking thing is that most of the research here is combined with machine learning, using machine learning to analyze rainfall, analyze water quality and so on. These are built on top of the Supercomputing Center (SOL) provided by ASU, which provides a total of 21,000 CPUs and 290 A100 Gpus, and students and faculty at school can obtain a virtual computing environment at any time upon request. This is quite surprising.

At the end

I have to say, it's been a short time, but I like Phoenix better than Washington, DC. Love it for its canyon fortitude and its oasis of vitality. Considering that both TSMC and Intel are building new factories in Phoenix, I think technology will be synonymous with the city's future.

Best

From Kosame

AGU 2024 Kawasaki Group

Hi everyone this is Kosame writing！

This time we crossed the ocean to attend AGU 2024 from December 8th - 15th in Washington, D.C.！

It is reported that more than 25,000 participants from more than 100 countries attended the annual meeting this year. As the world's largest Earth and space science event, scientists, educators, and policymakers from around the world come to answer the question, "What's next for science?"

At the site, there are many lectures and poster exhibitions every day, including, of course, the familiar field of hydrology.

There are a lot of exciting things, including meeting with the developers I use the model. The feasibility, accuracy and application range of the model for dam operation restoration are discussed. I believe there will be more cooperation in the future.

When it comes to hydrological models, researchers in different fields and different contents use different models. However, we can still find some "mainstream" : the HAND flood Model and NOAA National Water Model are used or mentioned many times, and researchers in American universities say that they have good data support and ease of use.

Dam renovation is an area of interest to me, and I have seen a lot of research focused on this area. For example, in Brazil and the United States, there are many studies on the construction of solar panels on the surface of reservoirs. On the one hand, solar panels can supplement and adjust the entire power system of DAMS. On the other hand, in areas with strong sunlight, solar panels can effectively reduce water evaporation from reservoirs.

Besides, I also enjoyed some very good lectures. Some of them are eye-opening, such as a talk about hydrological research and the relationship between languages, which is an unimagined Angle. Of course, Kawasaki sensei also spoke on stage about our research.

All in all we had a very good time in AGU24. In addition to the academic content, we also took a tour of Washington, DC.

Washington, D.C. 's warm winter sun and parks are charming.

Warmly,

Kosame

 

～世界銀行　東京防災ハブ　セミナーに  川崎が登壇します　～】

【セミナー】世界銀行東京防災ハブ「リスクからレジリエンスへ」　

（English will follow）

世界銀行 東京防災ハブ 公開セミナー「リスクからレジリエンスへ：世界銀行における自然災害迅速被害推定(GRADE)の成果、イノベーションと今後の展開 」をご案内します。皆様、奮ってご参加ください。

セミナーでは　川崎　が登壇します。

講演２　気候適応策としての治水投資による貧困と格差の削減

東京大学未来ビジョン研究センター　教授　川崎昭如

 

【イベント詳細】

●日時：２０２５年１月８日（水）午後3時３０分～午後５時１５分

●開催形式

ハイブリット（会場参加またはWebexによるオンライン参加）

●場所　（会場参加者）

世界銀行東京事務所   東京都千代田区内幸町2-2-2 富国生命ビル14階

Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC)スタジオ

●使用言語: 日本語、英語（同時通訳付）

●参加費: 無料

●お申込み及びプログラム詳細　: 以下の登録フォームからお申込みください（要参加登録）。

 https://www.worldbank.org/ja/events/2025/01/08/24th-disaster-risk-management-seminar-tokyo-organized-by-the-world-bank-gfdrr-drmhubtokyo?abc

ご案内

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Whwo-FCG9fw1_8x-h41xtImSbMZ9mWws/view?usp=drive_link

 －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

【Seminar】World Bank Tokyo DRM Hub/Disaster Risk Management Seminar

Notice for

Disaster Risk Management Seminar organized by the World Bank Tokyo DRM Hub Public symposium : From Risk to Resilience: Achievements, Innovations and Opportunities of the Global Rapid post-disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) at the World Bank.

We welcome your participation.

Kawasaki will be speaking at the seminar:

2nd presentation

Reducing Poverty and Inequality through Flood Control Investments as a Climate Adaptation Strategy

Professor Akiyuki Kawasaki

Institute for Future Initiatives, The University of Tokyo

 

EVENT DETAILS

●DATE/TIME: January 8, 2025, Wednesday,15:30 -17:15

●FORMAT:

Hybrid (In-person participation or online participation by Webex)

VENUE (In-person): World Bank Tokyo Office

 (Fukoku Seimei Building 14th floor, 2-2-2 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)

●LANGUAGE: English and Japanese (with simultaneous interpretation)

●ADMISSION: Free

●For registration and details, please access from here:

 

https://www.worldbank.org/en/events/2025/01/08/24th-disaster-risk-management-seminar-tokyo-organized-by-the-world-bank-gfdrr-drmhubtokyo

 Korea International Water Week 2024:  "Building Smart Water Future by Sharing Experience and Technology"

안녕하세요! This is Qisty writing. I am excited to update about my trip to  Korea International Water Week (KIWW) 2024 from November 13 to 16, 2024, at EXCO in Daegu, South Korea. This annual event brought together experts, policymakers, and industry leaders from over 70 countries to address global water challenges and share innovative solutions.  KIWW 2024 featured a comprehensive agenda, including:

• Water Leaders' Round Table: High-level officials and experts discussed strategies to address water issues worsening by climate change, culminating in an action declaration.
• World Water Partnership: Representatives from previous and upcoming World Water Forum host countries shared insights and discuss future directions for global water management.
• Technology, Implementation, and Policy (TIP) Platform: Sessions focusing on key water issues, technological advancements, and policy discussions.
• World Water Challenge: An international contest seeking innovative solutions to global water problems, with finalists presenting their ideas during the event.
• Youth Water Forum Asia: An international exchange event focusing on water issues, specifically designed for the younger generation.
• Korea Junior Water Prize: A competition encouraging young minds to develop solutions for water-related challenges, with winners gaining international recognition. The winner would further compete in the Stockholm Water Prize.
• International Water Industry Conference: Approximately 250 water industry experts from 11 countries participated, discussing global water market prospects and technological trends.
• Water Business Square: An exhibition featuring over 60 domestic and international water companies, facilitating business exchanges, public procurement consultations, and showcasing new products and technologies, related to water, including tap water production, ultra-pure water, and industrial water.

Korea Minister of Environment, Kim Wan-sup stated, “In order to wisely address an unprecedented climate crisis, innovative water management policies and active cooperation from around the world are essential.” The keynote speaker from KAIST, Prof. Hyungjun Kim also highlighted the current state of the climate that human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. He showed a graph of the near-linear relationship between the cumulative CO 2 emissions and global warming for five illustrative scenarios will produce 4500 GtCO 2  from 1850 until year 2050. He also displayed the illustration of Japan and Shohei Ohtani, concluding a similarity between the two entering the 50/50 club (Japan for experiencing  a notable rise in the number of extremely heat days and night with maximum temperatures exceeding 35°C over 50 days; Ohtani for  hitting at least 50 home runs and stealing 50 bases in a single season).

I participated in the TIP Platform of  Youth Researcher Session: Innovative Approaches to Flood Protection Investment in an Uncertain World organized by Japan Water Forum and was opened by Dr.  Mikio Ishiwatari as the Board Director .  It is crucial to create innovative methods for obtaining funding for flood protection in a time of significant societal and climatic uncertainty. Even while flood protection plays a major role in quality-oriented growth by addressing poverty, lowering inequality, and protecting ecosystems, traditional valuation techniques find it difficult to fully account for these complex advantages. T he session discussed cutting-edge approaches that can equip policymakers with comprehensive evidence for informed decision-making on flood protection investments. My research topic focused on developing a framework for the comparative valuation of the primary benefits (flood risk mitigation) and co-benefits of green infrastructure (green job creation, cropland productivity enhancement, carbon credits, and recreation establishment) and gray interventions in river area. Along with other participants from fellow University of Tokyo student, Kongju National University, and Seoul National University, South Korea, we brought up fruitful discussion about other research topics of the spillover effects for flood control investment, reducing poverty and inequality by  investment in flood protection, application and evaluation of Nature-based Solutions for flood mitigation, and the relationship between flood damage and flood vulnerability focusing on property damage and human casualties. 

 Other photos from the events

There was a session called Youth Water Forum Asia,  a platform for high school students from various countries to present water challenges and solutions specific to their regions,  share innovative solutions to water-related challenges, promote cooperation among the younger generation to exchange views on both local and global water issues. This year's participants came from high schooler from Japan, Korea, and Indonesia! (my country). Everybody had done amazing things and contributed to the society in such a young age. Japanese participants from Kumamoto city even delivered a presentation with animation video they created to raise awareness of protecting groundwater in Kumamoto which serves as 100% water supply (that's why their tap water tastes really good with balanced minerals and less disinfection chemical solution).

Together with the Youth Water Forum Asia Participants, we explored the exhibitions where companies showcased technologies and services related to water, including tap water production, ultra-pure water, and industrial water. The Korea Institute of Hydrological Survey and the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology of Cambodia also collaborated to support sustainable water management and enhance hydrological survey capabilities in Cambodia, while expanding cooperation between the two countries.

 

Additionally, a firm showcased its converter device, which prevents electrocution of tools and plugs when they are submerged in water without any sealant or protection.

 

Then, we met the mascots of this year's KIWW event and the mascot of Daegu Metropolitan City (so cute!)

Aside from the event, I want to share some of Daegu scenes, foods, and transportation.

Suseong-Gu River and Lake, Daegu

 

Daegu City from Above

 

Seomun Traditional Market (They are selling everything! from crops, spices, clothes, shoes, traditional cuisines, snacks, and drinks; they usually gather, standing while eating odeng/eomuk 어묵)

 

I rode three different modes of transportations in Daegu: bus, subway, and monorail. Also, in contrasts with countries like Japan or the United Kingdom, the driving custom in South Korea follows the right-hand traffic system, which means drivers drive on the right side of the road and the steering wheel is located on the left side of the vehicle.

That's all I want to share about. South Korea is very interesting to visit, 감사합니다 (gam-sa-ham-ni-da)!

Warmly,

Qisty