SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report

Sections

Status: Approved

Basic Information

Participants

Addie Thompson – Michigan State University Alex Bucksch – University of Arizona Ana Heilman-Morales – North Dakota State University Carmela Guadagno – University of Wyoming Cory Hirsch – University of Minnesota Eric Olsen – Michigan State University Erin Sparks – University of Missouri Frank Bai – North Carolina State University Gabby Berger – Washington State University Jagjeep Singh Sidhu – University of Missouri Jennifer Clarke – University of Nebraska Lincoln Katie Murphy – Donald Danforth Plant Science Center Lourdes Lopez – Michigan State University Luke Gregory – Cornell University Madhurjo Aishy – North Dakota State University Mathhew Souza – North Dakota State University Michael Kudenov – North Carolina State University Miranda Haus – Michigan State University Pappu Yadav – South Dakota State University Peng Fu – Louisiana State University Puranjoy Sar – University of Wisconsin Madison Raju Thada Magar Sindhuja Sankaran – Washington State University Tala Awada– University of Nebraska Lincoln Tarandeep Singh – Michigan State University Trey Garson – Bayer Crop Science Yahya Rauf – Texas A&M AgriLife Research Yang Yang – Purdue University Yin Bao – University of Delaware Yufeng Ge – University of Nebraska Lincoln Zaki Jubery – Iowa State University

NC1212MeetingMinutes.pdf

Accomplishments

Short Term Outcomes:

Activities:

In addition to the team members’ research, extension, education and outreach activities:

  • Platform for plant phenomics data management, NSF MRI grant (T. Awada).
  • USDA AFRI DSFAS proposal from early career investigator to advance segmentation of 3D CT X-ray root images (Tarandeep Singh, postdoc of J. Clarke)
  • Grant Submitted: DSFAS-CIN PARTNERSHIP: Data-Guided Cultivation: Integrating AI Models into Roboticized Systems to optimize for production efficiency, nutritional value, and profitability. ($1,150,000) (PD: Jones, Canopii; UW co-PIs: Baldwin, C. Guadagno, Majeed)( (C. Guadagno – University of Wyoming)
  • Grant Submitted: DSFAS: Multimodal Sensing System for Enhanced Plant Monitoring and Sustainable Resource Management in Greenhouse Environments. USDA-NIFA-AFRI ($300,000) (PI: Yaqoob Majeed). (C. Guadagno – University of Wyoming)
  • Grant Submitted: CAREER: Seeing plants in their true light - Robotic light-field 3D hyperspectral imaging for accurate in-field leaf phenotyping. NSF CAREER. ($759,466) (PD: Y. Bao – University of Delaware)

 Extension and Outreach Activities:

  • Michigan State University hosted the 2026 NAPPN Annual Conference.
  • NC1212 was represented at EPPS 2025 by Nebraska and Arizona.
  • Nebraska and Arizona on planning committee for IPPS9 in October 2026.

 Multistate collaborative efforts for external competitive funding (funded/pending) to advance this field:

  • Partnership Grant Submitted: NSF Programmable Cloud Data - Testbed - NSF “PCL-Test Bed: A Modular, AI-Integrated, Cyber-Physical Platform for Adaptive Control towards a Resilient, Resource-Efficient Agriculture” ($10,678,385) (PI: C.R. Guadagno).
  • Partnership Grant Submitted: Smart Irrigation Scheduling by Monitoring Maize Leaf Rolling (F. Bai, Y. Ge)
  • Partnership Grant Submitted: High-Dimensional-High-Resolution Modeling Framework for Crop Water Use Efficiency (F. Bai, Y. Ge)
  • Partnership Grant Submitted: Quantification of Plant Transpiration at High Resolution for Breeding Drought-Tolerant Cultivars (F. Bai, Y. Ge)
  • Partnership Grant Submitted: Accessible and Scalable Glare Correction Methods for Hyper- and Multi-spectral Imaging using Polarized Light (M. Kudenov, Y. Ge)
  • Partnership Grant Submitted: DSFAS-CIN PARTNERSHIP: Phenomics Data Science Cooperative (A. Buksch, J. Clarke, S. Sankaran)
  • Partnership Grant Funded: Plants as Silent Sentinel, Primary funder is DARPA, 2.1 million, May 2025-Nov 2026, Y. Ge)

 Outputs: Publications listed below.

Impacts

  1. Activities: The second year of the Wyoming Innovation Partnership interdisciplinary class in CEA (AGRI4990- CEA Principles & Applications) was successfully organized and 10 students (8 from UW, one from Central Wyoming College and one from Sheridan College) were able to participate in lectures and hands-on activities in CEA. The class that is designed to become a permanent offer at the University of Wyoming will foster extensive collaborative opportunities for students and faculty interested in CEA and for the CEA affiliates (C. Guadagno).
  2. Activities: The USDA-NIFA REEU funded project, Research experience for undergraduates on phenomics big data management, at Washington State University provided opportunities to 38 students (2021-2025) from 17 different states, 25 different institutions, and 26 different majors, to explore phenomics research in Summer.
  3. Indicators: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (DDPSC) has contributed to the growth of the phonemics field via PlantCV development and maintenance, as well as PlantCV Workshops for participants across the country at the 2025 and 2026 NAPPN Annual Meetings. These workshops trained participants from many institutions in scalable image analysis. Additional phenomics-related publications were released from DDPSC in 2025 and early 2026. This shows growing interest in phenomics. (K. Murphy).

Grants, Contracts & Other Resources Obtained

Partnership Grant Funded: Plants as Silent Sentinel, Primary funder is DARPA, 2.1 million, May 2025-Nov 2026, Y. Ge)

Others listed in Accomplishments Above.

Publications

Several publications involve multi-institutional collaborative work such as those underlined:

Callwood, J., Celebioglu, B., Gladman, N., Jung, J., Lachowiec, J., Quezada Rodriquez, E. H., McNamara, J. P., & Clarke, J. (2025). The need for robust, FAIR phenomic databases supporting agricultural efficiency and resiliency. Science and Public Policy. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scaf039

Gomes-Neto, J. C., Crook, A., Hestrin, R., Li, G., Liew, C.-S., Rosa, G., Singh, K., Tuggle, C. K., Summers, K. L., Valdes, C., Fahlgren, N., & Clarke, J. (2026). Challenges and opportunities: Computational biology and the future of agriculture. Bioinformatics Advances, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/bioadv/vbag003

Hostetler, A. N., Reneau, J. W., Cristiano, J., Weldekidan, T., Kermani, T. A., Kim, T. T., & Sparks, E. E. (2025). A tool to measure maize root system stiffness that fills a gap in our understanding of plant mechanics and lodging. Journal of Experimental Botany, 76(4), 950-960. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erae465

Ikiriko II, I., Hostetler, A. N., & Sparks, E. E. (2025). Experimental approaches for assessing root mechanical properties in maize. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols.

Ikiriko II, I., Hostetler, A. N., Reneau, J. W., Betts, A. K., & Sparks, E. E. (2025). A biphasic trajectory for maize stalk mechanics shaped by genetic, environmental, and biotic factors. The Plant Journal, 123, e70342. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.70342

Li, J., et al. (n.d.). Devising optimized maize nitrogen stress indices in complex field conditions from UAV hyperspectral imagery. Precision Agriculture. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11119-024-10205-1

Ozair, F., Adak, A., Murray, S., Alpers, R., Lima, D., Edwards, J., Ertl, D., Gore, M., Hirsch, C., Knoll, J., Schnable, J., Singh, M., Sparks, E. E., Thompson, A., Weldekidan, T., & Xu, W. (2025). Phenotypic plasticity in maize grain yield: Genetic and environmental insights of response to environmental gradients. The Plant Genome, 76(4), 950-960. https://doi.org/10.1002/tpg2.70078

Pierce, E., Hostetler, A. N., & Sparks, E. E. (2025). Three-point bend testing for quantification of maize brace roots mechanics. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols.

Shrestha, N., et al. (n.d.). Plot-level satellite imagery can substitute for UAVs in assessing maize phenotypes across multistate field trials. Plants, People, Planet. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10613

Singh, P., Niknejad, N., Spiers, J. D., Bao, Y., & Ru, S. (2025). Development of a smartphone application for rapid blueberry detection and yield estimation. Smart Agricultural Technology, 101361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atech.2025.101361

Thomas, H., Gevorgyan, A., Hermanson, A., Yanders, S., Erndwein, L., Norman-Ariztía, M., Sparks, E. E., & Frank, M. (2024). Graft incompatibility between pepper and tomato elicits an immune response and triggers localized cell death. Horticulture Research, 11(12).

Umani, K., de Almeida Teixeira, G. H., Schroder, B. K., & Sankaran, S. (2025). Evaluation of spatial variability of volatile organic compounds in potato bulk storage facility using FAIMS. Journal of Food Measurement and Characterization. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-025-03819-0

Valencia-Ortiz, M., McGee, R. J., Carter, A. H., & Sankaran, S. (2025). Variability in vegetation indices as a function of unmanned aerial vehicle flight altitudes and other factors during crop monitoring applications. Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal, 27(2), 268–284. https://cigrjournal.org/index.php/Ejounral/article/view/9393

Veloo, K., Zúñiga-Espinoza, C., Espinoza Salgado, A., Jacoby, P. W., & Sankaran, S. (2025). Multispectral, thermal, and hyperspectral sensing data depict stomatal conductance in grapevine. Remote Sensing, 17(1), 137. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17010137

Zhang, J., et al. (n.d.). Improved estimation of stomatal conductance by combining high-throughput plant phenotyping data and weather variables through machine learning. Agricultural Water Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109321

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