The College of Agriculture welcomes five new faculty members spring semester
Five faculty members joined The College of Agriculture this spring semester across Departments of Agricultural Economics, Agronomy, Animal Sciences and Biochemistry. Meet the college's newest additions and learn about their research programs.
Davide Cammarano joined the Agronomy Department as an associate professor after nearly six years as a researcher with The James Hutton Institute, an interdisciplinary scientific research center. He received his Ph.D. from The University of Melbourne. Cammarano’s research interests are in crop modeling, remote sensing and precision agriculture. Several of Cammarano’s current projects are focused on crop modeling to better simulate the impact climate change could have on different crop species.
Greg Fraley was selected by the Department of Animal Sciences as the Terry and Sandra Tucker Family Endowed Chair of Poultry Science, Animal Sciences. Fraley received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Washington State University at Pullman and came to Purdue after his time in the biology department at Hope College. Fraley specializes in how environmental changes can alter brain chemistry and gene expression that regulates feeding, growth and reproduction, specifically in regards to poultry.
Sung Kim joined the Department of Agricultural Economics as clinical assistant professor. Prior to working in academia, Kim worked as a management consultant. Kim specializes in unstructured communication and how this can stimulate social movements, especially in online communities. Enhancing machine learning to better order and interpret a world awash in reams of data is another area of Kim’s expertise.
Zianzhu Ma recently began as assistant professor with the Department of Biochemistry. He also holds a faculty appointment within the Department of Computer Science. Ma received his Ph.D. in computational biology from the Toyota Technological Institute of Chicago where he focused on developing computational models that help in the translation of patient data to diagnoses. His inquires relate specifically to the diagnosis and treatment of complex diseases, such as cancer.
Diane Wang joined the agronomy department as an assistant professor after completing postdoctoral research at the University at Buffalo. Before that, she received her Ph.D. in plant breeding and genetics from Cornell University. Wang’s main focus is on digital agriculture and the opportunities this offers to monitor plant health. Data collected through technologies that monitor plant health, field conditions and weather in real time can improve the predictive capacities of farmers and academics. Wang develops methods that can better leverage data types to better realize the potential of digital agriculture.
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