Technologies for Agriculture and Living Systems Symposium

Join us May 7-8, 2024, to learn about current research, share ideas for collaboration, and to grow our networks with one another. We welcome participants from the Penn State community as well as our partners across academic institutions, industry, government, and our stakeholder networks.

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REGISTER FOR THE SYMPOSIUM

Registration closes April 30, 2024

About the Symposium

A commitment to a healthy planet and healthy people across farms, wetlands, and waterways to promote biodiversity and to improve the resiliency of our crops, forests, and community health.

Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences is hosting the Technologies for Agriculture and Living Systems Symposium at the University Park campus on May 7-8, 2024, to initiate and foster the productive partnerships necessary for the integration of emerging and advanced technologies to address the complex challenges we face with climate change, resource protection (soil, water, air), biodiversity losses, rural and urban health, and social and economic shifts within our communities.

Symposium Agenda

Day 1 | May 7, 2024

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We invite you to join us to learn about current research. Presentations will focus on the development and applications of technologies that are integral to establishing sustainable and resilient agricultural systems that are interconnected with the broader living systems that support them.

Details on the sessions (session themes, presentation titles, and room locations) will be updated as the sessions are finalized with contributing participants.

Breakfast / Check-in

8:00 am - Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Lobby

Welcome

102 Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Building
8:30 am László Kulcsár Opening Remarks
8:45 am Christina Grozinger Welcome & Overview

Session 1: Leveraging technology and AI for management and conservation

102 Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Building
9:00 am Yanqiu Yang Guardians of Green: Combating Box Tree Moth Proliferation with AI & IoT
9:10 am Breanna Bone Advancing Calf Health Monitoring: Validating Gyroscope Collars for
Nutritive and Non-Nutritive Behavior Assessment, and Machine
Learning-Based Alert System for Bovine Respiratory Disease Detection
9:20 am Edward Amoah Developing automated monitoring of solitary bee foraging and nesting
behaviors to inform population models
9:30 am Avalon Miller Moving towards high-throughput phenotyping of disease-tolerant forest trees
9:40 am Juan Arguijo Vision system for the detection of apples in the green fruit stage
9:50 am Armen Kemanian Using the Cycles agroecosystem simulation model to predict agricultural
and environmental performance

10:00 am - Break

Session 2: Strategies for sustainable food production and supply

102 Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Science Building
10:15 am Francesco Di Gioia
& Chenchen Kang		 Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence for Advancing the
Sustainability of Controlled environment Agricultural Systems
10:30 am Shiran Ben Zeev Plant-plant interactions in sorghum plants through chemical and
physical communication belowground
10:40 am H Grant Troop All In Crop Production - Climate Smart
10:50 am Curtis Dell Manure injection and emissions of nitrogen gases
11:00 am Rob Chiles Growing Cellular Agriculture at Penn State (and Beyond): Interdisciplinary
Research, Stakeholder Partnerships, and Global Dialogues
11:10 am Jeff Catchmark Expanding the agroeconomy: An example of industrial supply chain
driven research in sustainable packaging

Session 3a: Mapping, modeling and decision support tool development

102 Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Science Building
11:30 am Lily Houtman Using Beescape NexGen: A Pollinator Health Decision-Support Tool
11:40 am Patrick Dudas Blending Immersive Technologies and Nature: Capturing, Visualizing,
and Storytelling the Outdoors

Lunch

12:00 pm - Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Lobby & Room 106

Guest Speaker

1:00 pm

 Sean Rhodes Uncertainty Assessment of Imputation Conducted Using Machine
Learning Techniques at the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service

Session 3b: Mapping, modeling and decision support tool development

102 Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Science Building
1:30 pm Jen Weld Development and Implementation of a Pennsylvania Farm Planning
System: PAOneStop
1:40 pm Tara Anthony Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information Overview
1:50 pm Harry Crissy Understanding the Requirements to Resolve Rural Broadband
Shortcomings in the United States
2:00 pm David Hughes How can PlantVillage as a well-developed AI platform help Tech in Ag
2:10 pm Paul Esker The Open Crop Manager as an interdisciplinary tool for improving crop
production and management
2:20 pm Sarah Goslee When are flowers? Tracking and predicting plant phenology

2:30 pm - Break

Session 4: Application of Robotics to Living Systems

102 Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Science Building
2:45 pm Bo Cheng Bio-inspired Robotics with the Potential for Biodiversity Monitoring
2:55 pm Francisco Yandun Robotics in Ag: Opportunities and Challenges
3:05 pm Paul Heinemann Advanced Technology Applications in Agricultural and Biological
Engineering at Penn State - Evolution and Current Status
3:15 pm Magni Hussain Research in Agricultural AI and Robotics: Past Work and Future Plans
3:25 pm Shirin Ghatresamani Future of Farming: Smart Agricultural Machines (SAM)
3:35 pm Long He Applied Research and Extension in Specialty Crop Production

Arboretum Tour

4:00 pm - Arboretum Event Lawn

Reception at the Arboretum

5:30 pm - Arboretum Overlook Pavilion

Day 2 | May 8, 2024

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We welcome you to join one of the three concurrent ideation sessions where panelists will share their experiences in building partnerships and set the stage for discussions on how to form lasting networks to advance:

  • Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem;
  • Establishing Workforce Development Pipelines;
  • Ensuring Successful Adoption and implementation.

Breakfast / Check-in

8:15 am - Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Lobby

Pathways to Collaboration: Plenary

102 Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Building
8:30 am Blair Siegfried Opening Remarks
8:40 am Gretta Tritch Roman Overview and Instructions for Participants

8:50 am - Breakout in Concurrent Sessions

Pathways to Collaboration: Concurrent Ideation Sessions

9:00 am - See session details below for room locations

Session A: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

102 Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Building

How might technologies for agriculture and living systems be integral to building an entrepreneurial ecosystem that supports productive engagement across industry and academia and facilitates the discovery and translation of research toward societal benefits?
Session Facilitator
Jeff Catchmark Professor, Agricultural and Biological Engineering,
Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences
Panelists
Dan Azzara Alan R. Warehime Faculty Chair in Agribusiness;
Director, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program,
Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences
Kelly Kundratic Agriculture Policy Director, Team Pennsylvania
Darryl Blakey Associate Director, Government Affairs U.S., FMC Corporation
Todd Erdley Central Regional Director, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of 
Central & Northern PA
Ben Pratt Regional Economic Competitiveness Officer,
Southwest Pennsylvania New Economy Collaborative
Kevin Dowling Managing Director, The Robotics Factory

Session B: Establishing Workforce Development Pipelines

106 Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Building

Imagine an inspired and skilled workforce in Pennsylvania who drive cutting-edge research, efficient production, sustained conservation, and economic growth…What would that workforce development pipeline look like across diverse age groups and needs?
Session Facilitator
Mark Gagnon Associate Teaching Professor, Agribusiness;
Harbaugh Entrepreneur and Innovation Faculty Scholar,
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program,
Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences
Panelists
Christina Grozinger Distinguished Professor, Entomology,
Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences;
Director, Technology for Living Systems Center;
Director, Center for Pollinator Research
Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences
Maria Spencer Assistant Clinical Professor; John and Patty Warehime
Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program,
Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences 
Sam Johnson Director of Aquaponic Programs, AgWorks,
Commonwealth Charter Academy
Jeff Remington Outreach Liaison, Penn State Center for Science
and Technology in the Schools
Heather Preisendanz Associate Professor, Agricultural and Biological Engineering;
Director, Institute for Sustainable Agricultural, Food, and
Environmental Science,
Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences
Tamie Veith Agricultural Engineer, USDA-ARS-Pasture Systems and
Watershed Management Research Unit
Jim Ladlee State Program Leader, Emerging & Advanced Technology,
Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences and Penn State Extension

Session C: Ensuring Successful Adoption & Implementation

112 Forest Resources Building

What would the successful implementation and adoption of emerging and advanced technologies for agriculture and the conservation of living systems look like in Pennsylvania?
Session Facilitator
Gretta Tritch Roman Director of Research Development & Initiatives,
Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences
Panelists
Mike Roth Director of Conservation and Innovation,
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
Scott Welsh Managing Partner, Fieldstone Innovations, LLC;
Consultant, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program,
Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences
Adrian Barragan Associate Research Professor and Extension Veterinarian,
Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences and Penn State Extension
Krista Rose Implementation Leader, Writer, and Moderator, Beck Ag, Inc
Joel Rotz Farmer Liaison, Agriculture and Environment Center,
Institute for Sustainable Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Science

Reconvene for Session Outcomes Reporting

11:15 pm - 102 Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Building

Lunch

12:00 pm - Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Lobby & Room 106

 

Symposium Logistics

All events will be held on the Penn State University Park campus. Parking information will be provided to registrants. 

Office for Research and Graduate Education

Address

217 Agricultural Administration Building
University Park, PA 16802-2600

Office for Research and Graduate Education

Address

217 Agricultural Administration Building
University Park, PA 16802-2600