Kansas State University is setting the stage as a national leader in digital agriculture with the launch of the interdisciplinary Institute for Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics.
The institute is a people-centered interdisciplinary collective transforming learning, research and outreach around digital technologies and advanced analytical methods to enhance agricultural, environmental and socioeconomic decision making.
Work done at the institute will include developing and integrating analytical methods and digital technologies — like sensors, automation and robots — that enhance food production and inform decision making for sustainable and resilient systems.
"A next-generation land-grant university is an innovative university, and that's exactly what we're doing with our new Institute for Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics," said K-State President Richard Linton. "Through this new institute, Kansas State University is working across disciplines to solve global agricultural problems and build the economic prosperity of Kansas and one of our state's key industries."
Harnessing expertise from the College of Agriculture, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, Kansas State University Salina Aerospace and Technology Campus, and K-State Research and Extension, the institute will advance research and learning in the digital agriculture and advanced analytics realm.
The institute's core administrative team consists of Ignacio Ciampitti, professor of agronomy; Brian McCornack, professor and department head of entomology; Ajay Sharda, professor of biological and agricultural engineering; Trevor Hefley, associate professor of statistics; Shawn Hutchinson, professor of geography and geospatial sciences; Pascal Hitzler, professor of computer science and director of the center for artificial intelligence and data science; and Susan Metzger, director of both the Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment and the Kansas Water Resources Institute.
"The interdisciplinary structure of the institute will give faculty and students the opportunity to experience firsthand how professionals in different disciplines approach and solve problems," said Hutchinson. "These perspectives and deep technological expertise will enrich agricultural research and outreach efforts and strengthen degree programs, producing our next-generation agricultural practitioners, researchers and policymakers."
Source: k-state.edu
Photo Credit: istock-ekkasit919
Categories: Kansas, Education