Ashfaq A. Sial
Professor of Entomology
Chair, Organizing Committee for AI in Crop Protection Symposium
Dr. Ash Sial is Professor in Department of Entomology and adjunct faculty member at Institute for Integrative Precision Agriculture at the University of Georgia. He also serves as IPM Coordinator for the state of Georgia. He also serves as IPM Coordinator for the state of Georgia. His research program seeks to investigate biology and ecology of economically important insect pests and utilize that information to develop more sustainable IPM programs in small fruits. He works closely with blueberry growers throughout the state of Georgia to determine their pest management needs and help them develop and implement environmentally sustainable and economically viable IPM programs. His research program has successfully secured over $33.2 million in competitive grants through federal and state agencies as well as private industry. He has authored 240 research and extension publications including 105 peer-reviewed publications, 327 presentations including 61 invited seminars, 16 webinars, and 3 keynote addresses, created several educational materials including blogs, websites, and smartphone apps, and organized 23 symposia at the national and international conferences. His research program has been highlighted multiple times in print and broadcast media including national radio and television. He has an extensive record of serving professional organizations in a leadership role at the regional, national and international level. Dr. Sial has received 39 awards for excellence in research, Extension, and teaching, as well as professional leadership and service at regional and national level.
Apurba Barman
Assistant Professor of Entomology
Dr. Apurba Barman leads an integrated research and Extension program focused on developing sustainable pest management strategies for pecan and citrus production systems in Georgia and the southeastern United States. His program combines insect ecology, biological control, host plant resistance, behavioral management, and emerging technologies to address critical pest challenges affecting specialty crops. Through multidisciplinary collaborations and applied field research, Dr. Barman has generated new knowledge on the biology, monitoring, and management of economically important pests, including ambrosia beetles, pecan aphids, pecan nut casebearer, citrus leafminer, and the Asian citrus psyllid. His work has directly contributed to early detection efforts for invasive pests and informed management recommendations for growers across the region. His program also integrates emerging tools such as artificial intelligence–based pest detection and precision pesticide application technologies to improve monitoring and management efficiency. Through extensive Extension engagement, including dozens of county production meetings and regional grower conferences, Dr. Barman translates research findings into practical recommendations that support the sustainability and profitability of Georgia’s rapidly growing pecan and citrus industries.
Nicholas Tuschak Basinger
Associate Professor of Weed Biology, Ecology, and Integrated Weed Management
Dr. Basinger received his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University where he studied the impacts of weed interference on biomass accumulation of weed and crop species as well as the impacts on crop yield. Dr. Basinger has a 60% research and 40% teaching appointment in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. His focuses on the alteration and manipulation of the agroecosystem and ecosystems surrounding non-cropland areas to reduce the impacts of weeds. His research interests include exploring aspects of weed interference and crop-weed interactions, herbicide efficacy, remote sensing of weeds, and developing novel management systems for both cropland and non-cropland areas.
Brett Blaauw
Professor of Entomology
Dr. Brett Blaauw is currently an Associate Professor and Extension Specialist of fruit entomology with a dual appointment at the University of Georgia and Clemson. As such, he has regional Extension responsibilities for a variety of fruits, including peaches, apples, and grapes. His research and extension programs directly address Southeastern fruit grower needs through a combination of laboratory, research farm trials, on-farm research, and collaboration with colleagues and county Extension personnel. The results from those trials provide the groundwork for developing pest management recommendations, which are published in guides and presented at meetings. Through addressing grower needs, his work highlights the importance of the intersection of IPM and technology for improving the sustainability of Southeastern fruit production.
Liang Dong
Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and Professor
Dr. Liang Dong is currently a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Precision Agriculture and a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Georgia. His research focuses on developing novel sensor technologies for real-time monitoring of soil conditions, plant health, and environmental factors, with the goal of addressing challenges in the water–energy–food–health nexus. Dr. Dong is also interested in advancing sensor systems to promote animal health and welfare.
Fei Dou
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Dr. Fei Dou is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing at the University of Georgia. Her research lies at the intersection of fundamental machine learning, intelligent sensing, and ubiquitous computing. She develops robust, multimodal, and context-aware AI solutions for contactless physiological monitoring, ambient behavioral intelligence, and other human-centered sensing applications. Fei’s work has appeared in leading venues across AI and ubiquitous computing, including NeurIPS, EMNLP, IJCAI, SenSys, IMWUT, PerCom, ISWC, IEEE TMC, and IEEE IoT Journal. She is a recipient of the 2023 Connecticut Women of Innovation (WOI) Acaemic Innovation and Leadership Award.
Kyle J. Johnsen
Associate Director for Research & Outreach, Institute for AI Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dr. Kyle Johnsen is a Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia. He joined UGA in 2008 after earning his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of Florida, where he also completed his M.S. and B.S. His research focuses on emerging human-computer interaction technologies for health, education, and the environment.
Shimat Villanasery Joseph
Associate Professor of Entomology
Dr. Shimat Joseph is an Associate Professor in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences whose research addresses existing, emerging, and invasive pest management issues of turfgrass and ornamentals, along with the principles of applied insect ecology. His research projects aim to enhance our understanding of the biology of the pest and beneficial species to develop and refine monitoring and management strategies. The major thrust is developing management tactics that would reduce the impact on the environment and non-targets. Dr. Joseph’s extension program promotes the adoption of integrated pest management principles driven by lab and field studies.
In Kee Kim
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Dr. In Kee Kim is an Associate Professor in the School of Computing at the University of Georgia. His research focuses on enabling efficient AI on resource-constrained edge devices and IoT systems, with expertise in scheduling, resource management, and model optimization for heterogeneous hardware, including AI accelerators. He has applied this work to field-deployable environmental monitoring systems, including low-cost IoT platforms for soil monitoring and energy-aware scheduling for sensor networks in remote environments. He also works on cloud computing and large-scale distributed systems. His research is supported by NSF, NIFA/USDA, DoW, Army Research Labs, and industry partners.
Lauren Lazaro
Assistant Professor | Extension Precision Agriculture Specialist
Dr. Lauren Lazaro is an Assistant Professor and Extension Precision Agriculture Specialist in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at the University of Georgia. Her program emphasizes precision agriculture approaches through optimizing current and emerging technologies, integrated management programs, and data-driven decision tools to improve efficiency in row crop production systems. Through applied research and Extension programming, she works closely with growers to implement precision management practices that enhance productivity and sustainability across southeastern cropping systems.
Md Sultan Mahmud
Assistant Professor of Precision Crop Protection
Md Sultan Mahmud is an Assistant Professor of Precision Crop Protection in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Georgia (UGA). He also holds an affiliate faculty appointment in the College of Engineering at UGA. Dr. Mahmud’s research program is centered on the development and deployment of cutting‑edge computer vision, artificial intelligence, and robotic systems for the detection, identification, monitoring, and management of plant diseases and other biotic stresses under both field and controlled‑environment conditions. His specific research interests include, but are not limited to, advanced artificial intelligence methodologies, such as explainable AI (XAI), foundation models, and agentic AI, as well as autonomous robotic platforms and intelligent decision‑support systems for effective and sustainable management of crop biotic stresses.
Glen Rains
Professor of Entomology
Dr. Glen Rains is a Professor in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia, based on the Tifton campus. With a foundation in agricultural engineering, his technical expertise bridges the gap between engineering science and biological systems, specifically focusing on Intelligent vehicles, IoT monitoring systems and AI in agricultural production.
Harald Scherm
Professor of Plant Pathology
Dr. Harald Scherm is a Professor Emeritus in UGA’s Department of Plant Pathology. Trained as a botanical epidemiologist at the University of California – Davis, his areas of expertise are plant disease prediction and management, as well as the effects of microclimatic and agronomic variables of disease progression in time and space. He is a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society and previously served as Head of the Department of Plant Pathology and Interim Co-Director of the Institute for Integrative Precision Agriculture (IIPA) at UGA.
George Vellidis
Professor of Crop & Soil Sciences
Dr. George Vellidis is the Director of the Institute of Integrative Precision Agriculture at the University of Georgia. In his research, he applies principles of engineering and the sciences to measure, model, and manage the interaction between agricultural production systems and the environment and has worked in the area of Precision Agriculture since 1995. Dr. Vellidis has received more than $20 million in extramural funding, received one patent and licensed two technologies, and published more than 300 refereed journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers. Dr. Vellidis received the International Society for Precision Agriculture’s Pierre C. Robert Precision Agriculture Award in 2016. In 2020, he was named a University Professor of the University of Georgia and inducted into the university’s Teaching Academy.
Other Organizers
Joelle Szendel, Administrative Assistant
Tracey Vellidis, Media Development & Design
Sydney Weigand, IPM Communications Coordinator