March 09, 2026
Assistant Professor Hyeong Suk Na and his team will expand cloud-based AI research while creating new student training opportunities in geospatial analytics and resilient systems.
At Mizzou Engineering, we cultivate knowledge that is beneficial to humanity. Our passion for ingenious, common-sense solutions attracts private-sector partners who share our commitment to building a resilient world.
Recently, Assistant Professor Hyeong Suk Na has received support from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to advance a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) framework for geospatial damage assessment and risk analysis.
This new AWS-supported effort will help Na and his team strengthen a scalable GeoAI workflow for analyzing high-resolution imagery, developing machine learning models and delivering results through an operational dashboard for end users.
“Timely and reliable information is essential after disasters,” Na said. “This support from AWS helps us build a more robust and reproducible framework so we can move promising research tools closer to real-world use.”
Na, a faculty member in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, specializes in stochastic optimization using AI and machine learning for resilient systems. His research focuses on developing practical, data-driven tools that help communities and organizations make better decisions under uncertainty.
Na’s team will use AWS cloud infrastructure and resources to expand the full research-to-deployment pipeline — from secure data and model development environments to standardized experimentation and pilot deployment.
The project emphasizes not only model performance, but also reproducibility, scalability and usability. By building cloud-native workflows, the team aims to accelerate research, improve collaboration and support future operational use in disaster resilience and risk-informed planning.
“This project is about more than developing one model,” Na said. “It is about building an ecosystem — data, infrastructure, workflows and deployment tools — that can support long-term impact.”
Advancing data-driven decision-making
The AWS support also builds on recent research accomplishments in Na’s research group. Na and PhD student Shivam Shrivastava presented their work at the 2025 NHERI Computational Symposium in Los Angeles and the 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Atlanta, with travel support from the National Science Foundation and Mizzou.
“One of the most exciting parts of this effort is student development,” Na said. “Our ISE students are gaining experience not only in machine learning and computer vision, but also in reproducible, cloud-based workflows that are increasingly important in both academia and industry.”
By combining cloud computing, geospatial analytics and AI, Na’s research team is working to develop tools that can support faster and more informed decision-making after disasters.
The AWS-supported project is expected to strengthen Mizzou Engineering’s capacity for translational AI research while creating new opportunities for student training, interdisciplinary collaboration and real-world impact.
“At Mizzou, we want our research to solve meaningful problems,” Na said. “This support helps us build practical tools and expand the reach of our work.”
Discover how Mizzou Engineering researchers are exploring new possibilities.