The faces behind IDAAS

IDAAS Purdue brings together a collaborative community of Purdue faculty, Extension educators, staff, and subject matter experts who share a commitment to innovation and excellence. United by a common purpose, our team is dedicated to advancing the university’s mission through the use of cutting‑edge digital tools and data‑driven solutions. We combine interdisciplinary expertise with forward‑thinking approaches to address complex challenges, support informed decision-making, and create meaningful impact for the people and communities we serve.

Affiliate Spotlight - Jinha Jung

Affiliate Spotlight - Jinha Jung

Researcher in cornfield taking measurements with digital tool

Get to know the people powering Purdue’s IDAAS innovation. Each month, we spotlight one of our affiliates, giving you a closer look at their work, their passions, and the research driving our center forward.

this month's spotlight

IDAAS Executive Committee

Our team embodies the spirit of innovation and excellence that Purdue is renowned for. We are a dynamic group of Purdue faculty, extension educators, staff, and experts, united by our passion for leveraging cutting-edge digital solutions to solve complex challenges.

Bill Bogan

Agricultural Research and Graduate Education

Operations Manager

Contact

Luiz Brito

Animal Sciences

Associate Professor | IDAAS Social Sciences

Specialties: animal agriculture, data management, genetics & omics

Dennis Buckmaster

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Professor and Dean’s Fellow for Digital Ag | IDAAS Founding Director

Specialties: animal agriculture, artificial intelligence, data management, field crops

Ignacio Ciampitti

Agronomy

Professor | IDAAS Co-Director

Specialties: statistics, remote sensing and modeling research

Christian Cruz

Botany & Plant Pathology

Assistant Professor | IDAAS Plant Production

Specialties: field crops, remote sensing & UAV's, sensors and data acquisition, automation and robots, genetics and omics, artificial intelligence

Bruce Erickson

Agronomy

Clinical Associate Professor of Digital Agriculture | IDAAS Education Clinical Professor, Digital Agriculture/Agronomy

Specialties: economics & adoption, field crops, remote sensing & UAV's

Yaohua "Betty" Feng

Food Sciences

Associate Professor | IDAAS Post-Farming Processing

Specialties: data management, food systems, specialty crops

Chad Fiechter

Agricultural Economics

Assistant Professor | IDAAS Social Sciences

Specialities: data management, economics & adoption, field crops

Margaret Gitau

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Professor | IDAAS International Outreach

Specialties: soil, water and environmental management, data management

Dharmendra Saraswat

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Professor | IDAAS Research

Specialties: automation & robots, data management, field crops, remote sensing & UAV's, AI/ML, soil, water, & environmental management

Adam Shanks

Digital Agriculture and Natural Resources

IDAAS Extension Outreach

Specialties: field crops, remote sensing & UAV's, AI/ML

Melinda Smith

College of Agriculture

IDAAS Project Manager

Specialties: leadership support, event & program coordination, project & program management, digital agriculture integration

IDAAS Affiliated Faculty

Shalamar Armstrong

Agronomy

Associate Professor

Specialties: soil, water, & environmental management, field crops

David Barbarash

Horticulture & Landscape Architecture

Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture & Coordinator of Cooperative Education Program

Specialties: digital forestry, specialty crops, AI/ML

Bedrich Benes

Computer Science

Professor and Associate Head of Computer Science

Specialties: digital twins, geometric modeling, 3D reconstruction, AI/ML

Michael Boehlje

Agricultural Economics and the Center for Food and Agricultural Business

Professor Emeritus

Specialties: artificial intelligence

Jacquelyn Boerman

Animal Sciences

Assistant Professor

Specialties: animal agriculture, data management, sensors & data acquisition

Laura Bowling

Agronomy

Department Head, Professor

Specialties: soil, water, & environmental management

Sylvie Brouder

Agronomy

Professor and Wickersham Chair

Specialties: data management, field crops, soil, water, & environmental management

Tommy Butts

Extension - Weed Sciences

Clinical Assistant Professor

Specialties: economics & adoption, field crops

Christian Butzke

Food Science & Enology

Senior University Fellow for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Professor

Specialties: specialty crops, food systems

Dave Cappelleri

Mechanical Engineering

Assistant Vice President for Research Innovation, Office of Research B.F.S. Schaefer Scholar & Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering Professor, Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering (by Courtesy)

Specialties: automation & robots, remote sensing & UAV's, sensor & data acquisition

Shaun Casteel

Agronomy

Associate Professor and Extension Soybean and Small Grains Specialist

Specialties: field crops, economics & adoption, remote sensing & UAV's

Hanyu Chen

Food Science

Clinical Assistant Professor

Specialties: Food Safety, Sustainable Food Manufacturing, Nonthermal Technologies, Digital Education

Somali Chaterji

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Assistant Professor

Specialties: data management, genetics & omics, AI/ML, sensors & data acquisition

Keith Cherkauer

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Professor

Specialties: data management, remote sensing & UAV's, sensors & data acquisition, soil, water, & environmental management

Joana Colussi

Agricultural Economics, Commercial Agricultural and Production Economics

Research Assistant Professor

Specialties: economics & adoption, data management

John Couture

Entomology/Forestry & Natural Resources

Associate Professor

Specialties: data management, digital forestry, remote sensing & UAV's

Melba Crawford

Agronomy; Civil Engineering; Electrical and Computer Engineering

Professor

Specialties: digital forestry, field crops, remote sensing & UAV's, AI/ML, soil, water & environmental management

Amanda Deering

Food Science

Associate Professor of Produce Food Safety

Specialties: food systems, economics & adoption, specialty crops

Ed Delp

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Distinguished Professor

Specialties: data management, AI/ML, sensors, & data acquisition

Laramy Enders

Entomology

Associate Professor

Specialties: genetics and omics, food systems

Marisa Erasmus

Animal Sciences

Associate Professor

Specialties: animal agriculture

John Evans

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Assistant Professor

Specialty: automation & robots, economics & adoption, field crops, sensors & data acquisition

Songlin Fei

Forestry & Natural Resources

Professor and Dean's Fellow of Remote Sensing

Specialties: data management, digital forestry, remote sensing & UV's, AI/ML, sensors & data acquisition

Ken Foster

Agricultural Economics

Professor

Specialties: data management, economics & adoption

Jane Frankenberger

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Professor

Specialties: soil, water, and environmental management

Roberto Gallardo

Agricultural Economics

Vice President for Engagement and an Associate Professor

Specialties: economics & adoption

Rado Gazo

Forestry & Natural Resources

Professor of Wood Processing and Industrial Engineering

Specialty: digital forestry, AI/ML, sensors & data acquisition

Allan Gray

Agricultural Economics

Executive Director, Professor

Specialties: economics & adoption

Jessica Gurevitch

Forestry

Distinguished Professor, Deans Research Fellow

Specialties: digital forestry, soil, water & environmental management

Ayman Habib

Civil Engineering

Thomas A. Page Professor of Civil Engineering

Specialties: data management, digital forestry, AI/ML, sensors & data acquisition

Brady Hardiman

Forestry and Natural Resources

Assistant Professor of Urban Ecology

Specialty: digital forestry, remote sensing & UAV's

Jacob Hosen

Forestry and Natural Resources

Assistant Professor of Internet-of-Things and Ecological Analytics

Specialty: digital forestry, sensors & data acquisition, soil, water & environmental management

Joseph Hupy

Polytechnic Institute

Associate Professor

Specialties: digital forestry, remote sensing & UAV's, sensors & data acquisition

Onyeka Ikele

Food Science

Lecturer

Specialties: data management, food systems, genetics and omics, animal agriculture

Jian Jin

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Assistant Professor

Specialties: automation & robots, data management, economics & adoption, sensors & data acquisition

Insu Jo

Forestry & Natural Resources

Research Assistant Professor

Specialties: soil, water, and environmental management, digital forestry

Tim Johnson

Animal Science

Associate Professor

Specialties: animal agriculture, genetics & omics

William Johnson

Botany & Plant Pathology

Professor

Specialties: economics & adoption, field crops

Tingting Ju

Animal Science

Assistant Professor

Specialties: animal agriculture, genetics & omics

Jinha Jung

Civil Engineering

Assistant Professor

Specialty: data management, digital forestry, field crops, remote sensing & UAV's, sensors & data acquisition

Researcher Spotlight

Darrin Karcher

Animal Sciences

Associate Professor

Specialty: animal agriculture, economics & adoption

Upinder Kaur

Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Assistant Professor

Specialties: animal agriculture, automation & robots, specialty crops, AI/ML, sensors & data acquisition

Valerie Kilders

Agribusiness

Assistant Professor

Specialties: data management, economics & adoption, food systems

Brad Kim

Animal Sciences

Professor

Specialties: animal agriculture, food systems

Nicole Kong

Purdue Libraries

Associate Professor, Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Specialty: digital forestry, data management

James Krogmeier

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Professor

Specialties: data management, field crops, AI/ML, sensors & data acquisition

Michael Langemeier

Agricultural Economics

Associate Director, Center for Commercial Agriculture and Professor

Specialties: economics & adoption

Petrus Langenhoven

Horticulture & Landscape Architecture

Assistant Clinical Professor

Specialties: specialty crops

Sarah LaRose

Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication

Associate Professor

Specialties: artificial intelligence, field crops

Jingjing Liang

Forestry and Natural Resources

Assistant Professor of Quantitative Forest Ecology

Specialties: digital forestry, data management, remote sensing & UAV's, AI/ML

Jing Liu

Agricultural Economics

Research Economist-Science Coordinator

Specialties: economics and adoption, soil, water, and environmental management

David Love

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Nick Trbovich Professor

Specialties: data management, sensors & data acquisition

John Lumkes

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Professor

Specialty: automation & robots, AI/ML, sensors & data acquisition

Meilin Ma

Agriculture Economics

Associate Professor

Specialties: economics & adoption, food systems

Mindy Mallory

Agriculture Economics

Associate Professor

Specialties: artificial intelligence, field crops, digital forestry, economic and adoption, food systems, soil, water, and environmental management

Trey Malone

Agricultural Economics

Boehlje Chair in Managerial Economics for Agribusiness

Specialties: economics & adoption, food systems

Maria Marshall

Agricultural Economics

Professor

Specialties: economics & adoption

Lourival Monaco

Agricultural Economics

Research Assistant Professor

Specialties: economics & agribusiness

Heather Neave

Animal Science

Assistant Professor

Specialties: animal agriculture

Krishna Nemali

Horticulture

Associate Professor

Specialties: automation & robots, data management, specialty crops, sensors & data acquisition

Jiqin Ni

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Professor

Specialties: animal agriculture, sensors & data acquisition, soil, water & environmental management

Camila Nicolli

Botany and Plant Pathology

Assistant Professor

Specialties: field crops, sensors & data acquisition, food systems

Suranjan Panigrahi

Polytech

Professor

Specialties; data management, field crops, AI/ML, sensors & data acquisition

Pete Pascuzzi

Libraries, Health & Life Sciences

Associate Professor

Specialty: data management, field crops

Siddhartho Paul

Agronomy

Assistant Professor

Specialties: field crops, soil, water & environmental management

Bryan Pijanowski

Forestry and Natural Resources

Professor of Landscape and Soundscape Ecology

Specialties: data management, digital forestry, AI/ML, sensors & data acquisition

Pratishtha Poudel

Agronomy

Assistant Professor

Specialties: field crops, AI/ML

Dan Quinn

Agronomy

Assistant Professor

Specialties: economics & adoption, field crops

Rahim Rahimi

Materials Engineering

Assistant Professor

Specialties: sensors & data audition

Katy Rainey

Agronomy

Associate Professor

Specialties: data management, field crops, genetics & omics, remote sensing & UAV's

Ankita Raturi

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Assistant Professor

Specialties: data management, economics & adoption, specialty crops, sensors & data acquisition

Amy Reibman

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Professor

Specialties: animal agriculture, AI/ML, sensors & data acquisition

Hinayah Rojas

Animal Science

Assistant Professor

Specialties: genetics and omics, artificial intelligence, animal agriculture

Rubab Saher

Forestry and Natural Resources

Research Assistant Professor

Specialties: soil, water, and environmental management

Schinckel

Animal Science

Professor Emeritus

Specialties: animal agriculture

Jon Schoonmaker

Animal Sciences

Associate Professor

Specialty: animal agriculture

William Scott

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Research Assistant Professor

Specialty: artificial intelligence, food systems, genetics and omics

Halis Simsek

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Assistant Professor

Specialty: animal agriculture, artificial intelligence, soil, water, and environmental management

Juan Sesmero

Agricultural Economics

Professor

Specialties: economics & adoption

Gang Shao

Libraries, Research Data

Assistant Professor

Specialty: digital forestry

Anthony Smith

Computer, Information, Technology - Polytech

Associate Professor

Specialty: LAN, WAN and wireless network design and implementation.

Robert Stwalley

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Clinical Associate Professor

Specialties: animal agriculture, sensors & data acquisition

Guy Tchuente

Agricultural Economics

Assistant Professor

Specialities: economics & adoption

Darcy Telenko

Botany & Plant Pathology

Associate Professor/Extension Plant Pathologist

Specialties: field crops

Nathan Thompson

Ag Economics

Associate Professor

Specialties: economics & adoption

Ariana Torres

HLA/Ag Econ, Agricultural Economics

Associate Professor

Specialties: data management, specialty crops, economic and adoption

Mitch Tuinstra

Agronomy

Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics

Specialty: genetics & omics, field crops, remote sensing & UAV's, AI/ML

Mohit Verma

Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Assistant Professor

Specialty: animal agriculture, genetics & omics, specialty crops, AI/ML, sensors & data acquisition

Jeff Volenec

Agronomy

Professor

Specialty: field crops, data management

Chih-Chun Wang

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Professor, and Associate Head for Facilities, Planning, and Staff

Contact

Diane Wang

Agronomy

Assistant Professor

Specialties: data management, field crops

Mark Daniel Ward

Statistics, Data Mine

Professor, Director of Data Mine

Specialty: data management

Nicole Widmar

Agricultural Economics

Interim Department Head, Professor

Specialties: data management, economics & adoption, food systems

Roland Wilhelm

Agronomy

Assistant Professor

Specialities: field crops, genetics & omics, soil, water & environmental management

Bryan Young

Botany & Plant Pathology

Professor of Weed Science

Specialty: economics & adoption, field crops

Yaguang Zhang

Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Clinical Assistant Professor

Specialties: artificial intelligence, field crops, automation and robots, sensor & data acquisition

IDAAS Affiliated Staff

Ashley Adair

Horticulture & Landscape Architecture

Extension Organic Agriculture Specialist

Specialities: economics & adoption, specialty crops

Jason Adams

Agricultural Research and Graduate Education

Lead Adv Phenotyping & Plan Proc Facility Manager

Specialties: field crops, remote sensing & UAV's

April Agee Carroll

Bayer U.S.

TPD Pipeline Analytics & IT Strategy Lead

Specialties: crop sciences, research & development, global breeding, trait & pipeline delivery

Aaron Ault

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Senior Research Engineer, Open Ag Tech & Systems Group

Specialties: animal agriculture, data management, field crops

Jeff Boyer

Agricultural Research and Graduate Education

Superintendent

Specialities: economics & adoption, field crops, remote sensing & UAV's, soil, water & environmental management

Sarah Brackney

Agriculture/Natural Resources

Extension Educator

Specialties: economics & adoption, soil, water & environmental management

Gary Burniske

Center for Global Food Security

Managing Director

Specialties: animal agriculture, food systems, artificial intelligence

Mark Carter

Agriculture/Natural Resources

Extension Educator

Specialties: economics & adoption, remote sensing & UAV's

Sara Cloft

Animal Science

Post Doc Research Assistant

Specialties: animal agriculture

William Decker

Purdue Extension

Ext Administrator Lead - Project Achievement

Specialties: remote sensing and UAV's, artificial intelligence, animal agriculture, digital forestry, automation and robots, soil, water, and environmental management

Jarrod Doucette

Ag Data Services

Director

Specialties: data management, AI/ML

Mark Fisher

Center for Environmental and Regulatory Information Systems

Programmer/Analyst

Specialties: artificial intelligence

Scott Gabbard

Purdue on the Farm

Senior Administrator

Specialties: economics & adoption, field crops, soil, water & environmental management

Yasas Gamagedara

Agronomy

Research Assistant

Specialties: remote senseing and UAV's, artificial intelligence, field crops, data management, soil, water, and environmental management, senors and data acquisition

Benjamin Goller

Agricultural Research and Graduate Education

Research Analyst

Specialties: remote sensing, digital forestry, field crops, data management

Beth Hall

Agronomy

State Climatologist Director, Midwestern Regional Climate Center

Specialties: monitoring network sustainability & expansion, decision support tool development, climate data stewardship and delivery

Rachel Haselby

4-h youth Development Science Extension/Outreach

Specialties: 4-H Youth Education

Alex Helms

Agricultural Research and Graduate Education

Asst. Director of Purdue Ag Centers

Specialties: economics & adoption, remote sensing & UAV's, soil, water & environmental management

Geoffrey Lentner

Rosen Center for Advanced Computing

Lead Research Data Scientist

Specialties: data management, artificial intelligence

Jon Leuck

Agricultural Research and Graduate Education

Director of Purdue Ag Centers

Specialties: economics & adoption, soil, water & environmental management

German Mandrini

Agronomy

Post Doc Research Assistant

Specialties: field crops, artificial intelligence, data management, automation and robots, economics & adoption, soil, water & environmental management

Lais McCartney

Agriculture and Natural Resources

Extension Educator - Hancock County

Specialties: field crops, data management, economics & adoption, food systems, specialty crops

Samantha Miller

Research and Graduate Education

Director of Corporate Business Development

Specialties: field crops

James Scott Monroe

Agriculture/Natural Resources

Food Safety Extension Educator

Specialties: economics & adoption, food systems, specialty crops

Zhihao Qin

Agriculture and Biological Engineering

Graduate Research Assistant

Specialties: artificial intelligence, sensors and data aquisition, digital forestry

Brandon Reese

Agricultural Research and Graduate Education

Business Relationship Manager

Contact

Joe Rorick

Agriculture/Natural Resources

On-Farm Sustainability Programs/ Research Coordinator

Specialties: field crops, soil, water & environmental management

Rachel Stevens

ACRE – Research Farm

Farm Manager

Specialties: economic adoption, data management, field crops, soil, water & environmental management

Annapurni Subramaniam

Agricultural Economics

Research Data Analyst and Visualization Specialist

Specialties: data management, artificial intelligence, food systems, economic and adoption, automation and robots

Mark Sullivan

Agricultural Research and Graduate Education

Business Relationship Manager

Contact

Jarrod Sutton

DIAL Ventures

Managing Director

Specialties: data management, food systems

Brock Turner

Extension

Extension Educator - Health and Human Sciences - Tippecanoe County

Specialties: artificial intelligence, food systems

Gustavo Valencia

Agricultural Economics

Lead Research Data Analyst

Specialties: artificial intelligence, data management, food systems

Yongping Wen

Food Science

Visiting Scholar

Specialties: food systems, artificial intelligence

Yang Yang

Agricultural Research and Graduate Education

Director of Digital Phenomics

Specialties: automation & robots, data management, field crops, sensors & data acquisition

Ze Zhu

Forestry & Natural Resources

Post Doc Research Associate

Specialties: food systems, soil, water, and environmental management, sensors & data acquisition

Discover the Purdue Agriculture Directory, a searchable resource to connect with all faculty and staff across the College of Agriculture. Find contact details, departmental information, and research profiles all in one place. Explore the directory here.