Seminars to explore new collaborative era of ag research with science, tech tools
January 28, 2015
The budding transformation of agricultural science and technology through interdisciplinary collaborations will be the topic of a four-part seminar series in February by Discovery Park and the College of Agriculture.
The seminars will meet from noon to 1:30 p.m. on the four Thursdays of February in the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, Room 121. They will operate on a brown bag basis; drinks and cookies will be provided.
Aiming at pressing 21st century issues including global food security, the seminars will focus on how crucial transformational advances that enable solutions can arise from interdisciplinary collaboration in basic and applied research in life and physical sciences.
Purdue faculty presenters will highlight technologies not traditionally considered agricultural but now finding a significant role in agriculture. Presenters will envision collaborations and discuss the expertise needed for them.
The four seminars are:
* Feb. 5: "Automation in Agriculture: Robotics in the Real World." Peter Hirst, professor of horticulture; Eric Matson, associate professor of computer and information technology; Johnny Park, research assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.
* Feb. 12: "Advanced Sensors in Crop Production and Protection." Ron Turco, professor of agronomy; Ali Shakouri, professor of electrical and computer engineering and the Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director of the Birck Nanotechnology Center; Babak Ziaie, professor of electrical and computer engineering.
* Feb. 19: "Agricultural Applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles." John Sullivan, professor of aeronautics and astronautics; Melba Crawford, associate dean of engineering for research and professor of agronomy; Katy Martin Rainey, assistant professor of agronomy.
* Feb. 26: "'Big Data' in Agriculture." Katy Martin Rainey, assistant professor of agronomy; Jennifer Neville, associate professor of computer science and statistics; Peter Baker, managing director of the Cyber Center.
