A NASA JPL- NYU workshop on Land Cover Change and urban heat extremes
The Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP) at NYU Tandon welcome you to attend seminars Dr. Glynn Hulley, research scientist in the Biosphere group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and Dr. Cheolhee Yoo, a Postdoctoral Fellow at JPL. Dr. Glynn Hulley will deliver a lecture "Advancing our understanding of urban heat islands, heatwaves, and societal heat disparities using remotely sensed NASA thermal infrared data," and Dr. Cheolhee Yoo will deliver a lecture on "Urban Growth Trajectories and Thermal Impacts in Indian Cities." This event is organized by NYU Tandon Assistant Professor Anamika Shreevastava.
Both lectures will be held in Room 400, located at 5 MetroTech Center, Brooklyn, NY, 11201.
These lectures are being hosted as part of a four-day workshop bringing together researchers and practitioners to examine how land cover change and urbanization shape extreme heat exposure in cities, with a focus on remote sensing–based approaches to monitoring and mitigating urban heat. Sessions will highlight advances in NASA thermal infrared observations, urban growth analysis, and data-driven strategies for reducing heat risk in rapidly changing urban environments. Events from February 3–5 are by invitation only, while the lectures listed below on February 6 are open to the public.
Schedule — Friday, February 6, 2026
10 AM – 10:15 AM
Welcome and brief introduction by NYU Tandon Assistant Professor Anamika Shreevastava
10:15 AM – 11:15 AM
Lecture by Dr. Glynn Hulley
11:15 AM - 12:15 PM
Lecture by Dr. Cheolhee Yoo
About the Lectures
Dr. Glynn Hulley: Advancing our understanding of urban heat islands, heatwaves, and societal heat disparities using remotely sensed NASA thermal infrared data
Urban areas worldwide confront escalating threats from extreme heat, a climate impact poised to become the most lethal and economically devastating of our time. Rising global temperatures are leading to urban heatwaves becoming longer, more frequent, and more severe, resulting in an increase in extreme heat exposure, especially among vulnerable population groups. A valuable and popular tool for studying fine-scale urban temperatures is with thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing data. With TIR data we can quantify the magnitude of the surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect across all permutations of urban temperature gradients and complexity. The availability of TIR data at spatial resolutions of 100 m or less is required for distinguishing temperatures of different urban materials that can be made useful for urban planning and heat mitigation efforts. Multispectral thermal infrared data (TIR: 8-12 micron) from the ECOSTRESS mission launched to the ISS in mid-2018, and upcoming TIR missions including LSTM, TRISHNA to launch in 2026-2029 will provide an unprecedented availability of high spatial resolution (< 100m), multispectral, twice-daily global TIR data. In this talk I will discuss some fundamentals of using high spatial resolution TIR data, with specific examples from ECOSTRESS (70m) and airborne HyTES TIR data (5m) to better understand the urban heat environment and societal applications. We will demonstrate the use of these data for investigating diurnal patterns in urban heat exposure; quantifying the effects of heat mitigation interventions; and better understanding links between geopolitical segregation and urban heat disparities in the Los Angeles area.
Dr. Cheolhee Yoo: Urban Growth Trajectories and Thermal Impacts in Indian Cities
Rapid urbanization in Indian cities is reshaping urban form in ways that have profound implications for long-term heat risk. This presentation examines how different modes of urban growth—horizontal expansion versus urban densification—affect the evolution of surface urban heat islands (SUHI). We integrate decadal Local Climate Zone (LCZ)–based urban growth trajectories with high-resolution (375-m) VIIRS land surface temperature to assess growth-mode-specific thermal responses across rapidly developing cities, including Delhi, Lucknow, Pune, and Kolkata. Our analysis shows that areas experiencing urban densification consistently warm faster at night than areas expanding outward, with robust nocturnal SUHI intensification of up to 1.0 K per decade. In contrast, daytime heat patterns differ substantially between cities and are strongly influenced by local climate and surface moisture conditions. These results suggest that compact urban development, while often promoted for efficiency and sustainability, can unintentionally increase nighttime heat exposure. The findings highlight the importance of considering how cities grow, not just how much they grow, when designing strategies to reduce heat risk in rapidly urbanizing regions.
About the Speakers
Dr. Glynn Hulley is a research scientist in the Biosphere group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory with more than 20 years experience in thermal infrared remote sensing and spectroscopy. His research focuses on the retrieval of surface 180 temperature and emissivity from thermal infrared data and their use in applications related to urban climate science and the impacts of extreme heat on societal vulnerability. Hulley is a member of several NASA instrument teams including ECOSTRESS, ASTER, MODIS, VIIRS, and Landsat, and serves as principal investigator for NASA’s standard land surface temperature and emissivity products. His algorithms and techniques have been incorporated into commercial packages and are widely used by researchers worldwide.
Dr. Cheolhee Yoo is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), specializing in urban climate analysis and geospatial data science. He earned both his B.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea. Following his Ph.D., Dr. Yoo joined The Hong Kong Polytechnic University as a Postdoctoral Fellow and later served as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics until March 2025. His current research focuses on urban climate, land use and land cover change, and AI-driven remote sensing for sustainable urban development. Dr. Yoo also serves on the Editorial Boards of the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and GIScience & Remote Sensing.
Visitor Information
Please visit the NYU Tandon website for directions and a campus map. Advance registration through Luma is required for campus access at NYU for external guests. Attendees who are not current students, faculty, or staff at NYU, including alumni, are asked to register using a personal email address.
About CUSP at NYU Tandon
The Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP) at NYU Tandon is an interdisciplinary center dedicated to applying science, technology, engineering, math, and social sciences to serve urban communities worldwide.
Founded as a partnership between NYU and the City of New York, CUSP leads research, educational, and entrepreneurial initiatives that advance the science of cities. By applying novel insights to urban issues, we develop data- and technology-driven approaches that drive positive impact. With an additional focus on training future leaders, CUSP offers interdisciplinary academic programs in applied urban science and informatics for graduate students and professionals.
CUSP also engages with stakeholders across city agencies, start-ups, industry players, community-based organizations, and nonprofits to address urgent socioeconomic, environmental, and infrastructural challenges. The center’s ultimate objective is to improve urban quality of life by using data to innovate and refine inclusive, equitable, and sustainable practices for cities everywhere.