Hyun Jung Min is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) in Beltsville, Maryland. She received her combined bachelor and master’s degree in Agricultural Machinery Engineering from Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South Korea, and her Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, at Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA. Her research is focused on developing optical sensing technologies for food safety and quality applications. Her expertise includes biosensors, hyperspectral imaging, Raman spectroscopy, machine vision, image processing, chemometrics, machine learning, system prototyping, and software development.
Jianwei Qin is a Research Agricultural Engineer in the Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) in Beltsville, Maryland. He graduated from Tianjin University and received his B.S. and M.S. in Measuring and Control Technology and Instruments. Then, he completed his Ph.D. in Biosystems Engineering at Michigan State University. His research is focused on developing optical sensing technologies for food safety and quality applications. His expertise includes hyperspectral imaging, Raman spectroscopy, machine vision, image processing, chemometrics, machine learning, system prototyping, and software development.
Pappu Kumar Yadav is an Assistant Professor of Precision Agriculture AI Engineering in the Department of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering at South Dakota State University. Previously, he was a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering at the University of Florida. He completed his Ph.D. in Biological & Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M University, his M.S. in Electrical Engineering at California State University, and his B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication Engineering at SRM Institute of Science and Technology. He is also a member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), The International Society for Optics and Photonics, and The Honor Society of Food Science and Technology. His areas of research lie at the intersection of remote and proximal sensing using multispectral and hyperspectral imaging, precision agriculture, artificial intelligence, uncrewed aerial systems, and agricultural robotics.
Thomas Burks graduated from the University of Kentucky, receiving his B.S. in Agricultural Engineering, M.S. in Biosystem and Agricultural Engineering, M.S. in Electrical Engineering, and Ph.D. in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. He also holds an M.A. from Asbury Seminary. He is now a Professor at the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida. He has worked on various approaches to citrus automation, including mass harvesting sub-systems, robotic harvesting, autonomous navigation in citrus groves, and automated citrus disease detection systems for citrus canker and greening using visible spectrum, multi-spectral, and hyperspectral approaches. He has experience in yield monitoring systems and other precision agriculture technologies. He has worked on stochastic modeling of dairy parlor labor and automation to predict manpower utilization and throughput. In previous job experiences, he assisted in the development of the FMC Automated Sterilization Retort Systems and other automated sterilization equipment, such as the rotary sterilizer and hydrostatic sterilizer, as a Project Engineer. He was also the engineering manager for the grain bin division of Chief Industries, where he worked with grain bins, grain handling, and metal farm buildings.
Megan Dewdney earned her B.Sc. in Plant Science (Hons) from the University of British Columbia, where her interest in plant pathology began. She received an M.Sc. in Plant Sciences, specializing in Plant Pathology, from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She obtained her Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Cornell University in 2008. Her dissertation focused on the epidemiology of Erwinia amylovora on apple flower surfaces. In 2008, she joined the University of Florida Plant Pathology Department, where she is now an Associate Professor. She is also a member of the American Phytopathological Society and Canadian Phytopathological Society. Her research focuses on integrated management and control measures for citrus canker and citrus greening with additional responsibilities for fungal pathogens. Her research projects include better understanding the biology of both bacterial and fungal pathogens to lead to enhanced control.
Insuck Baek received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biosystems Machinery Engineering from Chungnam National University in 2010 and 2012, respectively, and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 2019. He has been working with the USDA-ARS in Beltsville, MD, USA, as a Research Mechanical Engineer since February 2023. His research interests include machine vision and hyperspectral imaging for quality and safety evaluation of agricultural and food materials.
Moon Kim is the Lead Scientist for the EMFSL Sensing Technologies group at Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, which is developing hyperspectral and multispectral imaging technologies to assess the safety and quality of agricultural products and food ingredients. He received his B.Sc. in mathematics/physics, his M.Sc. in geography/remote sensing, and his Ph.D. in natural resource sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA, in 1988, 1994, and 1999, respectively. Before joining ARS-USDA, he held professional positions at NASA/GSFC for over 10 years. His current research areas include the development of rapid automated systems for online inspection of fresh produce and the development of portable imaging devices using multispectral fluorescence and reflectance imaging and protocols for use in food safety/security inspection applications. He is also one of eleven USDA-ARS super grade (ST) scientists who are located at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and make up the Beltsville Supergrade Committee.
