ST. LOUIS — A prominent scientist from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center will help lead a research team included as part of a new $20 million federally sponsored artificial intelligence research institute.
The Danforth Center’s Todd Mockler will co-lead a team of researchers involved in newly launched AI Institute for Future Agricultural Resilience, Management and Sustainability (AIFARMS).
AIFARMS is one of seven new AI institutes announced Aug. 26 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the National Science Foundation. Each institute has been awarded $20 million in federal funding in what officials said is the “nation's most significant federal investment in AI research and workforce development to date.”
AIFARMS is led by scientists at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and focuses on AI research aimed at resolving major agricultural challenges. The research will involve technology that includes computer vision, machine learning, soft object manipulation and intuitive human-robot interaction.
Mockler, the Geraldine and Robert Virgil distinguished investigator at the Danforth Center, will co-lead a group of scientists around research that uses AI to improve nitrogen and water use efficiency in major row crops.
“Crop and livestock production are extremely complex systems that feed billions of people despite tight cost constraints and chronic risks from weather and other external challenges. I'm excited to be part of a fantastic team of colleagues in diverse disciplines ranging from artificial intelligence to robotics to plant biology,” said Mockler. “The AIFARMS institute is poised to address fundamental challenges facing world agriculture while improving the resilience of crops and the sustainability of crop and livestock productions systems.”
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