Practitioners and Affiliates

TALiS Practitioners at Penn State are faculty from the College of Agricultural Sciences who are experts in their fields and practice under one or more of TALIS's three pillars: Robotics and Automation, Biotechnology, and Monitoring, Sensing, and Prediction.

TALiS Practitioners engage across fourteen distinct research focus areas, which can be explored further on the TALIS research page. TALiS fosters a strong community among these faculty experts within Penn State but also extends its collaborative reach beyond the university, connecting with the broader bio and agricultural technology communities throughout Pennsylvania and the Northeastern United States. This initiative supports innovation and knowledge-sharing to advance sustainable agricultural and living systems across the region.

TALiS Affiliates are members of the Penn State community who have expertise related to these technologies.

Robotics and Automation

Name Title Email Research Focus Areas
Shirin Ghatrehsamani, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering spg5994@psu.edu
  • Robotics for Management and Harvesting
  • Digital Agriculture and Smart Systems
Long He, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering luh378@psu.edu
  • Robotics for Management and Harvesting
  • Precision Agriculture
  • Digital Agriculture and Smart Systems
Paul Heinemann, Ph.D. Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering hzh@psu.edu
  • Robotics for Management and Harvesting
  • Digital Agriculture and Smart Systems
Magni S. Hussain, Ph.D. Assistant Research Professor in Electronics, Instrumentation and Control Systems msh5334@psu.edu
  • Digital Agriculture and Smart Systems
  • Controlled Environment Agriculture
  • Robotics for Management and Harvesting
Jude Liu, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering jliu@psu.edu
  • Robotics for Management and Harvesting
  • Bioenergy and Bioprocessing Systems
  • Food, Bioproducts, and Sustainable Materials

Biotechnology

Name Title Email Research Focus Areas
Jeffrey Catchmark, Ph.D. Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and Bioethics jcatchmark@engr.psu.edu
  • Food, Bioproducts, and Sustainable Materials
Stephen Chmely, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering sc411@psu.edu
  • Bioenergy and Bioprocessing Systems
  • Food, Bioproducts, and Sustainable Materials
Surinder Chopra, Ph.D. Professor of Maize Genetics sic3@psu.edu
  • Genetic Improvement and Genomics
  • Precision Agriculture
Daniel Ciolkosz, Ph.D., P.E. Associate Research Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering dec109@psu.edu
  • Bioenergy and Bioprocessing Systems
  • Controlled Environment Agriculture
Erin L. Connolly, Ph.D. Professor elc18@psu.edu
  • Genetic Improvement and Genomics
Ali Demirci, Ph.D. Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering demirci@psu.edu
  • Food, Bioproducts, and Sustainable Materials
  • Bioenergy and Bioprocessing Systems
Mark Guiltinan, Ph.D. J. Franklin Styer Professor of Horticultural Botany and Professor of Plant Molecular Biology mjg9@psu.edu
  • Genetic Improvement and Genomics
Jill Hamilton, Ph.D. Associate Professor & Director, Schatz Center for Tree Molecular Genetics jvh6349@psu.edu
  • Genetic Improvement and Genomics
Sibel Irmak, Ph.D. Research Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering sji5137@psu.edu
  • Bioenergy and Bioprocessing Systems
  • Food, Bioproducts, and Sustainable Materials
Joshua D. Lambert, Ph.D. Professor of Food Science jdl134@psu.edu
  • Food, Bioproducts, and Sustainable Materials
Siela Nikolova Maximova, Ph.D. Research Professor of Plant Biotechnology snm104@psu.edu
  • Genetic Improvement and Genomics
Timothy W. McNellis, Ph.D. Associate Professor twm4@psu.edu
  • Plant Disease Monitoring
  • Genetic Improvement and Genomics
Andrew D. Patterson, Ph.D. John T. and Paige S. Smith Professorship adp117@psu.edu
  • Livestock and Wildlife Monitoring
  • Soils and Microbiomes
Verónica Román-Reyna, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology roman-reyna@psu.edu
  • Soils and Microbiomes
  • Plant Disease Monitoring
Cristina Rosa, Ph.D. Professor, Plant Virology czr2@psu.edu
  • Plant Disease Monitoring
  • Genetic Improvement and Genomics
Juliana Vasco-Correa, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering julianavasco@psu.edu
  • Food, Bioproducts, and Sustainable Materials
  • Bioenergy and Bioprocessing Systems
Josephine Wee, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Food Science jmw970@psu.edu
  • Food, Bioproducts, and Sustainable Materials
  • Genetic Improvement and Genomics
Yinong Yang, Ph.D. Professor yuy3@psu.edu
  • Genetic Improvement and Genomics
  • Plant Disease Monitoring

Monitoring, Sensing, and Prediction

Name Title Email Research Focus Areas
Molly Bletz Assistant Professor of Disease Ecology mcb6342@psu.edu
  • Livestock and Wildlife Monitoring
Frances E. Buderman, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Quantitative Wildlife Ecology fbuderman@psu.edu
  • Livestock and Wildlife Monitoring
Melissa Cantor Assistant Professor Precision Dairy Science mmc7081@psu.edu
  • Livestock and Wildlife Monitoring
  • Digital Agriculture and Smart Systems
Enrico Casella Assistant Professor Data Science for Animal Systems casella@psu.edu
  • Livestock and Wildlife Monitoring
  • Digital Agriculture and Smart Systems
  • Decision Support Tool Development
Alyssa Collins, Ph.D. Associate Research Professor aac18@psu.edu
  • Plant Disease Monitoring
  • Decision Support Tool Development
Christine Costello, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering chriscostello@psu.edu
  • Food, Bioproducts, and Sustainable Materials
  • Bioenergy and Bioprocessing Systems
Francesco Di Gioia, Ph. D. Associate Professor of Vegetable Crop Science fxd92@psu.edu
  • Controlled Environment Agriculture
  • Digital Agriculture and Smart Systems
Jonathan M. Duncan, Ph.D., M.P.A. Associate Professor of Hydrology jmduncan@psu.edu
  • Habitat Quality Monitoring
Paul D. Esker, Ph.D. Professor of Epidemiology and Field Crop Pathology pde6@psu.edu
  • Plant Disease Monitoring
  • Modeling for Crop Management
  • Decision Support Tool Development
Heather Lee Grab, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Entomology hlc30@psu.edu
  • Insect Population and Community Monitoring
  • Decision Support Tool Development
Christina Grozinger, Ph.D. Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology cmgrozinger@psu.edu
  • Insect Population and Community Monitoring
  • Decision Support Tool Development
David P. Hughes, Ph.D. Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Global Food Security dhughes@psu.edu
  • Digital Agriculture and Smart Systems
  • Plant Disease Monitoring
  • Decision Support Tool Development
Armen R. Kemanian, Ph.D. Interim Department Head and Professor of Production Systems and Modeling kxa15@psu.edu
  • Modeling for Crop Management
Shanthanu (Shan) Krishna Kumar, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Tree Fruit szk6480@psu.edu
  • Modeling for Crop Management
  • Precision Agriculture
Felipe Montes, Ph.D Associate Research Professor frm10@psu.edu
  • Modeling for Crop Management
  • Digital Agriculture and Smart Systems
Harland Patch, Ph.D. Assistant Research Professor hmpatch@psu.edu
  • Insect Population and Community Monitoring
  • Digital Agriculture and Smart Systems
  • Decision Support Tool Development
Heather Preisendanz, Ph.D. Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering heg12@psu.edu
  • Habitat Quality Monitoring
Xinshun Qu, Ph.D. Associate Research Professor xsq1@psu.edu
  • Genetic Improvement and Genomics
  • Plant Disease Monitoring
Sara Serra, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Tree Fruit Production and Physiology sxs7652@psu.edu
  • Plant Monitoring and Phenotyping
  • Precision Agriculture

Affiliates

Name Title Email Areas of Expertise
Margaret Byron, Ph.D. Trethewey Early Career Professor mzb5025@psu.edu
  • Bio-inspired robotics
Sarah Goslee, Ph.D. Adjunct Associate Professor of Agronomy, USDA-ARS sarah.goslee@ars.usda.gov
  • Habitat Quality Monitoring
Scott Medina, Ph.D. William and Wendy Korb Early Career Professor of Biomedical Engineering shm126@psu.edu
  • Robotics and Biodevices
Claudia Schmidt, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Marketing and Local/Regional Food Systems czs786@psu.edu
  • Local Food Systems
  • Regional Economics
  • Production Economics
Baxi Zhong, Ph.D. Assistant Professor bqc5667@psu.edu
  • Bio-inspired robotics

Director, TALiS

Paul Heinemann, Ph.D.
  • Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Director, TALiS

Paul Heinemann, Ph.D.
  • Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering