DIGITAL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Assistant Professor at the Biological
Dr. Moghimi is an assistant professor at the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at UC Davis. Ali graduated from the University of Minnesota; he worked in the Agricultural Robotics lab. Following his graduation in February 2019, Ali joined the Digital Agriculture lab at UC Davis to continue his research aspirations as a postdoctoral fellow. His research interest includes remote sensing, automation, and artificial intelligence (machine learning and deep learning) to facilitate the digital revolution in agriculture.
Job Titles:
- Currently Data Scientist at MathWorks
Boyan is a first-year graduate student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of California, Davis. He has two years of experience in machine learning and data analysis. He received a B.Eng. and an M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. His research interests include machine learning and reinforcement learning.
Bruno holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Paulista University and M.S. in Agricultural Engineering from the Federal University Viçosa in Brazil. He has two years of machine design experience. Bruno first joined the University of California, Davis in 2019 as an intern to conduct research in agricultural engineering.
Damian is finalizing his master's degree in agricultural science at ETH Zürich, Switzerland, for which he joins the Digital Agriculture Lab at UC Davis. During his studies, he focused on applications of data science and machine learning to agriculture. He previously worked as an intern at Agroscope, a public Swiss agricultural research institute, and heavily focused on plant protection during an exchange semester in France.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Director
Dr. Alireza Pourreza is an associate professor of extension in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering department and the Digital Agriculture Lab director at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Pourreza leads research and extension education in digital agriculture, remote sensing, precision agriculture, and mechanization. Dr. Pourreza's research program focuses on solving immediate challenges in crop production systems identified by stockholders. His lab develops practical and data-driven decision-support tools that help farmers increase profit while decreasing waste and environmental footprint.
Job Titles:
- Curently Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University
Duong joined the Digital Agriculture Lab in April 2021, right before he got his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science with a minor in Technology Management in September 2021 at the University of California, Davis. After graduation, he continued to work for the lab to develop a desktop application for lab members to process drone images. He has had previous experience in data processing and cross-platform application development (mainly for web and desktop). His current focus is on application development. Doung is currently employed at Amazon.
Dr. Francisco Altimiras got his Ph.D. in Complex Systems Engineering from Adolfo Ibañez University, Chile 2018. Following this, Dr. Altimiras earned a Master's degree in Computer Science from Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, Chile, in 2022. Throughout his career, Dr. Altimiras has been involved in technology development as a researcher, data scientist, and entrepreneur. Dr. Altimiras joined the Digital Agriculture Lab at UC Davis as a Visiting Scholar in July 2023, and his research focuses on computer vision, machine learning, the internet of Things (IoT), and precision agriculture.
German holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the Californian State University of Fresno. His undergraduate studies focused of the development of embedded systems. He first joined the University of California in 2017 as an intern to conduct research in agricultural engineering. German has performed specialized work in the development of field and laboratory data collection systems and remote sensing.
Job Titles:
- Undergraduate Student Intern
Job Titles:
- Currently Data Scientist at Corteva Agriscience / Former Master
Kyle holds a B.S. in Biological Systems Engineering from UC Davis and is continuing his studies as a master's student. He has prior experience in pharmaceutical automation and rainout shelter mechanization. He enjoys cycling and film photography.
Job Titles:
- Visiting Graduate Student
Manuel is currently a visiting scholar at the Digital Agriculture Laboratory. He developed a keen interest in precision agriculture while pursuing a master's degree in agricultural engineering, where he specialized in plant production at the University of Cordoba. His interest stems from the potential of precision agriculture to enhance production, quality, sustainability, profitability, and health across the food chain cost-effectively and proactively. Manuel had always aspired to study at UC Davis.
During his time at UC Davis, Manuel will concentrate his research on estimating nitrogen levels at the canopy level in almond orchards using drone and satellite imagery. This research aims to enable precision fertilization and irrigation, thereby optimizing crop yield and quality. Additionally, he is investigating the challenges posed by environmental and economic sustainability in farming and how precision agriculture can be employed to address these challenges.
Job Titles:
- Undergraduate Student Assistant / Digital Agriculture Lab
Mario is currently an undergraduate student at Reedley College studying Kinesiology. He has worked at the USDA studying the Navel Orangeworm and with the UCCE Fresno small farms group researching the Moringa plant. He is currently a student assistant in the digital lab at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and extension center acquiring data collection. Mario likes to spend time with his family and lift weights.
Mohammadreza got his bachelor's and master's degree in Biosystem Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tehran, Iran, in 2019 and 2021, respectively. During his study program, he worked on implementing Internet of Things systems, plant disease detection, and high-throughput plant stress phenotyping by deep learning algorithms on smart hydroponic greenhouses. At the same time, he was an intern at the Agricultural Engineering Research Institute of Iran and worked on agricultural machinery, robotics, artificial intelligence, and precision agriculture. He joined the Digital Ag. Lab at UC Davis in Fall 2022 as a Ph.D. student. His research focused on "Using Radiative Transfer Modeling for Retrieving Leaf and Canopy Traits." Mohammadreza is co-advised by Dr. Moghimi.