Pukyong National University announced that Professor Hanlim Lee (Satellite Information Convergence Engineering) received a Ministerial Commendation from the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment for his contributions to advancing air pollution monitoring using the GEMS environmental satellite and localizing advanced atmospheric remote sensing technologies.

Professor Lee developed satellite-based algorithms for retrieving air pollutants and established ground validation systems, significantly enhancing national air quality monitoring. He improved NO₂ and SO₂ retrieval algorithms, increasing SO₂ data reliability by 6–14% compared to low-Earth-orbit satellites.

He also built satellite-based air pollution datasets for North Korea and East Asia, installed Pandora instruments at 19 sites across Asia, and contributed to the localization of advanced sensing equipment such as fine dust scanning lidar, enabling real-time monitoring of high pollution in urban and port areas.