Rate My Professor Michael Kuhn

Michael Kuhn serves as Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Curtin University. He earned his Diploma in surveying and PhD in physical geodesy from the University of Karlsruhe, now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, in Germany. Since 1999, Kuhn has been actively engaged in research within the field of geodesy, particularly focusing on gravity field modeling and related applications. His career at Curtin University includes affiliations with the Department of Spatial Sciences and the Western Australian Geodesy Group, contributing to advancements in spatial sciences and geophysics.

Kuhn's research encompasses global gravity modeling, topographic effects on gravity fields, planetary geodesy, and high-resolution gravity representations. He contributed to the development of a new World Gravity Map through expertise in global gravity modeling derived from satellite altimetry and topographic data. Notable projects include studies revealing gravity variations larger than previously thought using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, identification of 280 new craters on the Moon via topographic analysis, and monitoring of the Nile River basin for hydrological insights. He has secured Australian Research Council funding, serving as an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship recipient in project DP0345583 and chief investigator in others such as DP120102441. Key publications include 'New ultrahigh-resolution picture of Earth's gravity field' (Hirt et al., Geophysical Research Letters, 2013), 'Band-limited topographic mass distribution generates full-spectrum gravity field' (Hirt and Kuhn, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 2014), 'Enhancing Crop Yield Prediction Utilizing Machine Learning and Multi-Source Satellite Data' (Pham et al., Remote Sensing, 2022), 'Performance evaluation of high/ultra-high-degree global gravity models over Vietnam using GNSS/leveling data' (Pham et al., Geodesy and Geodynamics, 2023), and 'Local hybrid geoid/quasigeoid development using machine learning' (Pham et al., Survey Review, 2025). Kuhn received the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute Professional of the Year Award. His work has influenced gravity modeling techniques and applications in hydrology and planetary science.