Postdoctoral Fellow (Dao)

at  Colorado State University

DESCRIPTION OF WORK UNIT

The Department of Agricultural Biology is committed to excellence in the creation and dissemination of knowledge about insects, plant pathogens, and weeds in agricultural, natural, and urban ecosystems. Our mission is to enhance human well-being by improving ecosystem sustainability. In addition to generating new knowledge, we apply knowledge in entomology, plant pathology, and plant sciences to solving practical problems related to biotic and abiotic plant stress, integrated pest management, and ecosystem health. People in Agricultural Biology participate in and value cooperative and collaborative efforts with other units within the University, as well as with individual stakeholders and other organizations in Colorado and beyond. We hold ourselves to a standard of excellence in teaching, research, extension, and service and act according to the Principles of Community.

POSITION SUMMARY

We are looking for a Postdoctoral Associate to start on May 1, 2024 or shortly after. This position focuses on understanding the interactions between plants and crops and biotic and abiotic stresses using drone hyperspectral remote sensing. We are broadly interested in addressing questions related to the detection of physiological and biochemical responses of plants to the impacts of droughts, pests and pathogens, and invasive species and weeds from gene to species and landscape scales. Our approach integrates various methods and tools including but not limited to remote sensing, spatial science, biochemical and genetic methods, biological modeling, and machine learning. Therefore, we are looking for candidates with a strong background in image processing, computer science, machine learning, and/or engineering.
This postdoctoral associate will have opportunities to join and collaborate with researchers in the Department of Agricultural Biology, College of Agricultural Sciences, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, NSF-ASCEND Biology Integration Institute, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The associate also has opportunities to learn and use our high-end drone hyperspectral (HySpex Mjolnir VS-620), multispectral, thermal, and LiDAR sensors and will be trained on drone operation with CSU Drone Center.

REQUIRED JOB QUALIFICATIONS

• A PhD degree in the field of remote sensing, geography, computer science, plant biology, plant ecophysiology, agriculture, environmental science, or related disciplines.
• Strong background in remote sensing, image processing, and geospatial data collection and analysis.
• Experience with programming, especially in Python and/or R
• Experience with field data collection and laboratory chemical experiments.

PREFERRED JOB QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in new computational, analytical, or machine-learning methods
• Knowledge in plant ecophysiology and biochemistry
• Track record of academic writing and publications

Please refer the Job description for details